EDWARDS 


MEMORIAL 


//.  /v5.74 


Presented    to    Princeton    Theological   Seminary 


By  the  l^ev.  Wendell  Prime,  D.D. 

To  be  Kept  Always  as  a   Separate  Collection. 


/>  i)  n  a  ///  ci  n    CcL  vi^a  r"  w] 


J  "CJ^  f\/L^-  I  ^  ^ 


THE 


Memorial  Volume 


>^ 


DWARDS  f  AMILY  ]] 


EETING 


STOCKBRIDGE,    MASS., 


SEPTEMBER  6-7,  A.D.   1870. 


BOSTON : 

CONGREGATIONAL    PUBLISHING    SOCIETY, 

1871. 


Boston : 
Stereotyped  ajtd printed  by  Rand,  A  z>ery,  iSr"  Frye. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

Introductory   7 

Organization 17 

Opening  Address  of  President,  Hon.  J.  W.  Edwards     .        .        .        -17 

Original  Ode.     By  E.  W.  B.  Canning 18 

Address  of  Welcome.     By  Kev.  E.  C.  Hooker ly 

Commemorative  Discourse.     By  Dr.  Woolsey 25 

Original  Hymn.     By  Mrs.  Sarah  Edwards  Henshaw      ....  82 

AFTERNOON   SESSION. 

Early  Life  of  Edwards.     By  Dr.  Tareox 83 

Characteristics  of  Edwards.     By  Dr.  Park 104 

The  Ministry  of  Edwards  at  Northampton.     By  Dr.  Todd         .        .  121 
Life  of  Edwards  at  Stockbridge.     By  Dr.  Hopkins        .        .        .        .131 

Edwards  at  Princeton 138 

Letter  of  Dr.  McCosh,  and  Address  of  Dr.  Prime         ....  138 


SECOND    DAY. 

Remarks  of  Rev.  Dr.  Woodbridge  of  Richmond,  Va 146 

Remarks  of  William  W.  Edwards 151 

Remarks  of  Joseph  E.  Woodbridge 155 

Remarks  of  Frank  D.  Clarke 158 

Poem.     By  Mf.s.  Mary  Bayard  Clarke 160 

Remarks  of  Hon.  Jonathan  Edwards  of  New  Haven    ....  162 

Memorial  Poem.     By  Mrs,  Sarah  Edwards  Henshaw     ....  165 

Dr.  Sprague's  Letter 178 

Committee  on  Monument 182 

Vote  of  Thanks  to  the  Citizens  of  Stockbridge 183 


THE    DINNER. 
Address.     By  Rev.  Dr.  H.  M.  Field     . 
Address.     By  Rev.  Mr.  Eggleston 
Address.     By  Rev.  Dk.  Gale  . 
Poem.     By  Rev.  G.  T.  Dole     . 
Address.     By  Hon.  David  Dudley  Field 
Genealogy    


185 
196 

202 
206 


INTRODUCTORY. 


RESPECT  for  the  dead  is  an  instinct  of  human 
nature.  It  is  this  principle  that  builds  the 
stately  mausoleum,  beautifies  the  costly  cemetery,  and 
enshrines  the  great  and  the  good  in  the  memory  of 
successive  ages.  It  is  the  same  principle  that  in- 
duces the  posterity  of  revered  ancestors  to  gather  in 
places  made  precious  by  their  presence  in  times  long 
past. 

To  a  mind  properly  constituted,  argument  to  jus- 
tify such  action  is  superfluous.  The  North-Ameri- 
can Indian,  as  he  was  at  the  discovery  of  this  coun- 
try, presents  the  best  type  the  world  has  ever  seen  of 
human  nature  in  its  instinctive  developments.  Indif- 
ference to  the  graves  of  his  ancestors  was  a  state  of 
mind  to  which  he  was  a  stranger.  The  burial-places 
of  his  tribe  were  visited  with  an  intensity  of  reverent 
emotion  inferior  only  to  that  evoked  by  the  thought 
of  the  Great  Spirit. 


6  Introductory. 

If  such  a  sentiment  be  in  harmony  with  our  consti- 
tution, the  gathering,  once  in  a  hundred  years,  of  a 
family  that  has  become  numerous  from  a  common 
stock,  — especially  if  that  stock  be  illustrious,  —  is 
one  of  the  most  natural  sequences  in  human  affairs. 
The  infrequency  of  such  assemblages  is  more  a  mat- 
ter of  surprise  than  their  frequent  recurrence. 

In  conformity  with  this  common  instinct  of  our 
nature,  there  has  been,  in  the  breasts  of  the  represen- 
tatives of  two  generations,  a  desire  to  see  a  re-union 
of  the  descendants  of  Jonathan  Edwards.  Such  a 
re-union  was  actualized  last  September,  at  Stock- 
bridge.  That  it  met  a  widespread  want,  the  num- 
ber of  those  present,  their  representative  character, 
the  distance  from  which  some  of  them  came,  and  the 
interest  which  all  manifested  in  the  occasion,  are  am- 
ple proofs.  It  is  believed  that  the  number  of  those 
who  were  unable  to  attend,  and  who  regarded  their 
inability  as  a  privation,  was  far  in  excess  of  those  who 
were  present.  Numerous  letters,  by  way  of  apology 
lor  absence,  have  been  received,  some  before  and 
some  since  the  meeting,  all  regretful,  and  all  ex- 
pressive of  a  deep  interest  in  the  object  of  the 
meeting. 

These  letters  cannot  be  introduced  into  this  volume. 
There  is  one,  however,  that  was  designed  to  come 
before  the  meeting,  but  failed  of  its  design.  It  may 
properly  be  inserted  here. 


Introdiictoi'y.  y 

It  consists  of  a  message  from  Mrs.  Mary  Edwards 
Whiting  of  Binghamton,  N.Y.,  now  more  than  ninety 
years  of  age,  and  the  only  living  representative  of  the 
grandchildren  of  Jonathan  Edwards.     Here  is 

THE     MESSAGE. 

She  wished  to  say  that  God'  had  fulfilled  to  her 
and  hers  the  covenant  which  he  made  with  her 
grandfather,  even  as  he  did  his  covenant  with  Abra- 
ham. She  wants  all  her  grandfather's  descendants  to 
study  more,  and  put  greater  faith  in,  that  covenant. 
She  wishes  to  bear  her  testimony  at  that  meeting  to 
God's  covenant  faithfulness  and  to  his  covenant  mer- 
cies to  her  and  hers  ;  that  all  her  children  and  chil- 
dren-in-Iaw,  and  nearly  all  her  grandchildren  and 
great-grandchildren  (in  all  about  seventy  souls),  are 
professors  of  religion,  and,  she  thinks,  bear  some 
fruit. 

She  feels  that  these  are  covenant  blessings  sent  in 
fulfilment  of  the  covenant  which  God  made  with  her 
grandfather  Jonathan  and  her  father  Timothy,  not 
only  for  themselves,  but  for  their  seed  after  them. 
She  longs  to  have  her  children  appear  there  [at  the 
meeting  at  Stockbridge]  to  renew  the  covenant  their 
forefathers  made  with  God,  even  as  Israel  was  com- 
manded to  appear  before  God  with  their  tribes. 

This  message  is  worthy  to  be  pondered  by  every 
descendant,  and  furnishes  evidence  of  the  light  in 
which  this  aged  saint  looked  at  this  gathering  of  the 
posterity  of  her  venerated  ancestor.     It  derives  spe- 


8  Introductory. 

cial  interest  from  the  fact,  that  it  is  the  utterance  of 
one  whose  relation  to  the  representative  head  of  the 
family  is  a  generation  in  advance  of  any  one  now  liv- 
ing ;  that  it  is  a  message  from  one  whom  age  has 
placed,  as  it  were,  on  the  confines  of  two  worlds  ;  and 
that,  as  "  a  mother  in  Israel,"  she  speaks  to  a  posteri- 
ty of  her  own,  quite  as  numerous  as  the  patriarch  took 
with  him  into  Egypt. 

The  origin  oi  the  meeting  requires  a  brief  state- 
ment. 

One  of  the  Andover  professors,  some  three  or  four 
years  ago,  was  at  the  house  of  a  friend  in  Auburndale. 
In  the  course  of  the  interview,  the  idea  of  a  meeting 
of  the  family  was  discussed.  The  execution  of  this 
idea  was  regarded  as  entirely  feasible.  It  was  arranged 
that  they  together,  at  some  future  time,  would  visit 
New  Haven,  and  confer  with  Pres.  Woolsey  and 
other  members  of  the  family  there.  This  was  done 
in  the  course  of  a  few  months  ;  and  the  project  re- 
ceived the  indorsement  of  all  who  were  consulted. 
Pres.  Woolsey,  as  a  leading  representative  of  the 
family,  was  requested  to  make  the  Memorial  Address 
whenever  the  meeting  should  be  held.  This,  after 
some  deliberation,  he  consented  to  do. 

With  this  auspicious  beginning,  the  work,  according 
to  the  Latin  poet,  was  regarded  as  half  done. 

The  next  point  of  importance  to  be  determined 
was  the  place  for  the  family  gathering.     Northampton 


Introductory.  9 

and  Stockbridge  were  both  memorably  associated 
with  the  name  of  Edwards.  With  the  former  he  had 
identified  himself  as  a  spiritual  builder  of  the  Church 
of  God  ;  with  the  latter,  as  the  foremost  metaphysi- 
cian of  the  ages. 

Most  who  were  consulted  were  in  favor  of  North- 
ampton. Accordingly,  some  half-dozen  gentlemen, 
representing  the  most  numerous  branches  of  the 
family,  met  there  by  concert,  and  conferred  witli  each 
other  and  with  a  number  of  the  citizens.  No  defi- 
nite conclusion  was  reached. 

From  this  time,  for  eighteen  months,  the  enterprise 
hastened  slowly.  Some  of  the  parties  from  whom 
efficient  aid  was  anticipated  were  abroad  ;  the  idea 
of  a  monument,  as  an  element  in  the  celebration,  be- 
gan to  claim  attention  ;  the  place  of  meeting  was  still 
a  vexed  question  ;  and  either  from  lack  of  enthusiasm, 
or  some  other  reason,  it  was  difficult  to  find  one  to 
engineer  the  enterprise. 

There  were  some,  however,  that  were  unwilling  to 
have  the  project  of  a  meeting  fail.  They  resolved 
upon  an  advance  movement. 

As  it  seemed  unadvisable  to  hold  the  meeting  in 
Northampton,  attention  was  turned  to  Stockbridge. 
A  letter  was  received  from  Rev.  Dr.  H.  M.  Field 
of  New  York,  who  has  his  summer  home  there,  ex- 
pressive of  his  own  and  his  brother's  interest  in  such 
a  meeting. 


10  Iiiirodiiclory. 

Encouraged  by  these  expressions,  a  correspond- 
ence was  opened  with  some  of  the  leading  citizens 
of  Stockbridge,  who  gave  to  the  proposed  meeting 
their  most  prompt  and  hearty  indorsement.  We 
were  invited  to  come,  and  were  assured  that  their 
liomes  and  their  hearts  should  be  alike  open  to  us  ; 
and  never  was  assurance  made  more  sure.  The  cor- 
dial and  affluent  hospitality  of  the  people  of  Stock- 
bridge  will  never  fade  from  the  memory  of  those  to 
whom  it  was  so  courteously  extended. 

The  preliminaries  having  been  thus  satisfactorily 
arranged,  the  following  circular,  inviting  a  "gathering 
of  the  tribes,"  was  issued  early  in  July,  1870 :  — 

CIRCULAR. 

The  descendants  of  Jonathan  Edwards  propose  to  hold  a 
family  re-union  at  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  on  the  first  Tuesday  and 
Wednesday  of  September,    1870. 

It  would  seem  not  less  an  act  of  piety  toward  the  illustrious  dead 
than  a  measure  of  fraternal  regard  for  each  other  on  the  part  of  the 
living  to  inaugurate  such  a  re-union. 

The  undersigned,  in  behalf  of  the  family,  do  hereby  invite  all  the 
posterity  of  Jonathan  Edwards  to  assemble  at  Stockbridge  on 
Tuesday,  the  6th  of  September,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  in  the 
Congregational  Church. 

A  .scheme  of  exercises,  literary  and  social,  has  been  arranged  for 
the   two  days.     The   descendants  in   every  part   of  the    country,  who 


Introductory.  1 1 

propose  to  be  present,  will  report  their  names  and  post-office  ad- 
dress to  Rev.  E.  C.  Hooker,  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  who  will  present  each 
name  to  the  Committee  of  Entertainment. 

COMMITTEE. 

Theodore  Dwight  Woolsey,  New  Haven,  Conn. 
Henry  Edwards,  Boston,  Mass. 

Jonathan  Edwards  Woodsridge,  Auburndale,  Mass. 
Joseph  Woodbridge  Edwards,  Marquette,  Mich. 
Benjamin  Woodbridge  Dwight,  Clinton,  N.Y. 
Jonathan  Edwards,  Jun.,  New  Haven,  Conn. 
,  William  Edwards  Park,  Lawrence,  Mass. 
Elias  Cornelius  Hooker,  Stockbridge,  Mass. 

In  accordance  with  the  above  circular,  the  meetine: 
was  held  at  the  time  and  place  appointed. 

The  exercises  of  the  two  days  were  continued  with 
unabated  interest  to  the  end.  What  these  exercises 
were  will  appear  in  the  sequel.  That  they  were  of  a 
very  high  order,  in  the  main,  may  be  inferred  from 
the  character  of  the  men  who  took  part  in  them,  and 
from  the  full  attendance  to  the  close.  Large  num- 
bers were  present  from  the  neighboring  towns  and 
the  remote  parts  of  the  county.  The  hospitality  of 
the  people  was  adequate  to  every  exigency.  Un- 
der the  spacious  tent  of  Yale  College,  which  was 
kindly  furnished  for  the  occasion,  and  which  was 
spread  near  the  church,  liberal  entertainment  was  pro- 
vided for  all  between  the  morning  and  afternoon 
exercises.     The  weather  was  well-nigh  perfect.     In 


12 


Introductory. 


this  the  favor  of  a  benignant  Providence  was  recog- 
nized. The  harmony,  also,  which  characterized  the 
proceedings,  furnishes  occasion  for  gratitude  to 
God. 

The  unanimity  with  which  the  meeting  voted  to 
erect  a  monument  must  be  regarded  as  significant. 

The  expediency  of  this  action  seems  to  demand 
something  more  than  a  mere  passing  notice. 

The  remark  has  often  been  made,  "  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards needs  no  monument." 

Here  is  a  man,  who,  by  the  unanimous  verdict  of 
two  hemispheres  (and  rendered  by  the  most  com- 
petent tribunal),  is  pronounced  the  foremost  pure 
intellect  of  his  time  ;  and,  some  hesitate  not  to  say, 
of  all  time.  And  his  posterity  of  the  fourth  and  fifth 
generations  come  together  to  honor  his  memory,  on 
the  spot  where,  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  he 
labored  as  a  humble  and  self-denying  missionary, 
and  told  to  the  poor  Indians  the  story  of  the  cross  ; 
and  at  the  same  time  prepared  for  his  generation, 
yea,  for  all  generations,  those  masterpieces  of  human 
thought,  that  have  received  the  unqualified  sanction 
of  the  realm  of  mind. 

Now,  is  it  a  thing  to  be  wondered  at,  that  his  de- 
scendants, at  such  a  time  and  in  such  a  place,  in  the 
fulness  of  their  filial  emotion,  should  conclude  to 
raise  a  monument,  to  testify  the  sincerity  of  their  re- 
gard, and  to  remind  their  own  children  of  the  precious 


Introductory.  1 3 

legacy  they  enjoy,  when,  in  future  times,  they  shall 
visit  this  consecrated  spot  ? 

While  looking  at  the  expediency  of  such  a  measure, 
it  should  be  kept  in  mind,  that  there  exists  nowhere, 
to  our  knowledge,  any  material  memorial  of  Jonathan 
Edwards,  except  a  plain  slab  covering  his  remains  in 
the  graveyard  of  Princeton,  N.  J.  It  would  seem, 
therefore,  a  duty  to  raise  in  his  native  New  England 
some  enduring  monument,  to  remind  the  traveller,  in 
a  distant  age,  alike  of  the  virtues  of  the  man  and  the 
piety  of  his  race. 

It  is  hoped  that  such  a  monument  will  be  raised  : 
that  it  should  stand  in  Stockbridge  is  so  manifest 
as  to  need  no  discussion  ;  and  that  it  should  be  built 
by  his  children,  and  consecrated  by  their  prayers,  few 
will  deny. 

Let  God  be  praised  that  he  raised  up  such  a  man, 
and  endowed  him  with  such  wealth  of  intellect  as 
made  him  the  acknowledged  master  of  theological 
thought  for  the  world  ;  that  he  clothed  him  with  such 
affluence  of  holiness  as  enabled  him  to  put  in  motion 
a  train  of  reviving  influences  for  the  Church,  which 
shall  never  cease ;  and  that  he  inspired  him  with 
such  zeal  for  truth,  that  he  hesitated  not  to  assail  the 
high  places  of  error  in  doctrine  and  in  practice,  and, 
with  his  colossal  enginery,  to  lay  them  level  with  the 
dust. 

His  influence  is  a  precious  gift  to  the  world  :  may 


1 4  Introductory. 

it  be  enjoyed  so  long  as  the  sun  and  the  moon  shall 
endure !  His  memory  is  a  precious  legacy  to  his 
descendants  :  may  they,  by  their  piety,  prove  them- 
selves worthy  of  it  to  the  latest  generation  ! 

J.  E.  WOODBRIDGE. 


EDWARDS     ARMS 

As  verified  at  the  Heraldry  Office,   London. 


Edwards  Memorial. 


THE  family,  with  tlie  citizens  and  strangers,  hav- 
ing convened  in  the  Congregational  Church  at 
Stockbridge  about  ten  o'clock  on  Tuesday  morning, 
Sept.  6,  Henry  Edwards,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  rose,  and 
made  a  motion  that  the  meeting  be  organized  by  the 
appointment  of  the  Hon.  J.  W.  Edwards  of  Marquette. 
Mich.,  as  president ;  and  the  Rev.  J.  E.  Woodbridge 
of  Auburndale,  Mass.,  as  vice-president. 

The  president,  on  taking  the  chair,  made  the  fol- 
lowing 

R  E  M  A  R  K  S. 

More  than  a  hundred  and  twelve  years  have  gone 
by  since  these  grounds  were  last  trodden  by  Jonathan 
Edwards  ;  and  now  this  goodly  company  of  his  pos- 
terity gather,  from  all  places  whither  we  have  scat- 
tered, to  the  old  homestead. 

We  come  from  all  professions  and  pursuits,  we 
come  from  positions  of  varied  influence  and  useful- 
ness    (inheriting  in   large   measure  the   blessings  of 

2  17 


1 8  Edwards  Memorial. 

our  father's  God),  to  celebrate  in  fraternal  and  Chris- 
tian fellowship  his  virtues  and  his  graces. 

And  are  there  not  invisible  witnesses  here,  who, 
on  this  hallowed  ground,  were  wont  to  ofter  the  prayer 
of  faith  for  us,  their  children,  to  a  thousand  genera- 
tions ?  In  such  a  presence,  by  such  a  company, 
to  be  assigned  such  a  position,  to  preside  amid  such 
fellowship,  I  deem  the  highest  honor  and  greatest 
privilege  of  my  life  ;  and  it  is  bestowed,  I  am  sure,  not 
on  account  of  any  peculiar  personal  fitness  (for  I  am 
the  youngest  and  least  of  my  father's  house),  but  be- 
cause of  the  double  descent  which  myself  and  my  two 
brothers  here  present  may  claim  from  our  illustrious 
ancestor. 

The  duties  of  this  position  shall  be  discharged  as 
God  shall  give  me  ability. 

The  president  then  called  upon  Prof  William  S. 
Tyler,  D.D.,  of  Amherst  College,  who  married  a 
daughter  of  Mrs.  Whiting  of  Binghamton,  N.Y.,  to 
offer  prayer. 

The  following  original  ode,  composed  for  the  occa- 
sion by  E.  W.  B.  Canning,  A.M.,  of  Stockbridge, 
was  sung  in  a  very  impressive  manner  by  the  church 
choir :  — 

ODE. 
1. 

Lost  echoes  of  the  past. 

From  out  your  caverns  pour, 
And  like  a  trumpet  blast 
Awake  the  soul  once  more  ! 
The  dust  again       I  And  bow  the  knee 
Shall  voiceful  be,  |  With  living  men. 


Edwards  Memorial.  19 


Down  the  long  years,  to-day, 

Doth  a  bright  spirit  come. 

With  glory's  proud  array, 

Back  to  his  ancient  home. 

Again  our  vale        ,  And  faith  believes 

Its  saint  receives  ;  |  His  olden  tale. 

3- 
With  pilgrim  staff  he  came 
To  teach  his  forest  band  ; 
Now  thousand  sons  proclaim 
His  name  through  all  the  land  : 
So  saith  the  Power  I  The  wise  shall  dwell 
That  cannot  fail, —  |  Forevermore. 

4 
The  good  alone  are  great ; 

Immortal  only  they  : 
Nor  time  nor  darkening  fate 
Can  write  them  in  the  clay. 
Our  sainted  sage  :  Majestic  down 

Wears  glory's  crown  |  Through  every  age. 

Then  came  the  address  of  welcome  on  the  part 
of  the  people  of  Stockbridge.  This  was  presented  by 
the  Rev.  EHas  Cornehus  Hooker,  the  pastor  of  the 
church,  himself  in  the  hne  of  direct  descent,  and  unit- 
ing the  blood  of  the  Hookers  with  that  of  Edwards. 

His  call  and  settlement  at  Stockbridge  took  place 
after  the  arrangements  for  the  meeting  there  had  been 
made.  It  was  regarded  as  a  providential  indication. 
His  service  there  was  almost  invaluable. 

The  welcome  was  extended  by  him  with  peculiar 
felicity  and  grace.     He  spake  as  follows  :  — 

Mr.  President,  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen, — 
Four  generations  ago,  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards  came 


20  Edwar'ds  Memorial. 

across  the  hills  from  Northampton,  with  his  wife, 
Sarah  Pierrepont  Edwards,  and  their  ten  children,  to 
take  charge  of  the  little  church  of  mingled  whites  and 
Indians  located  on  this  spot.  To-day,  as  his  chil- 
dren's children,  you  have  come  together  almost  from 
the  four  quarters  of  the  globe  to  hold  a  family  festival 
in  honor  of  his  great  name. 

Before  you  proceed  to  the  intellectual  and  social 
"  feast  of  fat  things "  that  awaits  you,  allow  me  to 
speak  a  few  words  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  Stock- 
bridge,  expressive  of  their  hearty  sympathy  with  the 
objects  which  have  called  you  together,  and  their 
earnest  desire  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  make  your 
brief  stay  a  pleasant  one. 

I  think  I  do  not  exaggerate  when  I  say  that  you 
could  not  have  found  a  place  in  which  to  meet  where 
you  would  have  received  a  more  cordial  welcome  than 
that  which  greets  you  here  to-day.  Wc  arc,  indeed, 
a  small  community,  and  our  resources  for  hospitality 
are  not  large  ;  but  we  beg  you  to  understand  that 
our  inability  in  this  respect,  so  far  as  any  exists,  is 
natural,  and  by  no  means  vioral.  The  people  of 
Stockbridge  have  always  endeavored  to  live  according 
to  the  New-Testament  precept  about  entertaining- 
strangers  ;  and  they  regard  it  as  in  some  sense  a 
reward  for  so  doing,  second  only  to  the  privilege  of 
entertaining  "angels  unawares,"  that  they  are  per- 
mitted at  this  time  knowingly  to  have  for  their  guests 
the  descendants  of  Jonathan  Edwards  and  his  virtu- 
ous and  beautiful  wife,  Sarah  Pierrepont  Edwards. 

Moreover,  we  cannot  help  feeling  that  it  is  exceed- 
ingly appropriate  that  you  have  chosen  to  hold  your 
family  festival  on  this  spot.     We  have  nothing  to  say 


Edwards  Memorial.  2 1 

of  the  comparative  claims  of  other  places  that  are 
associated  with  the  name  of  Edwards  :  but  surely  a 
place  where  he  dwelt  peacefully  for  a  goodly  series  of 
years,  during  which  he  performed  his  last  and  ripest 
labors  as  a  gospel-preacher ;  where  he  was  regarded 
by  his  flock  with  an  affection  so  unanimous  and  rev- 
erent, that  no  breath  of  calumny,  living  or  traditional, 
has  ever  to  this  day  dared  attempt  to  stain  his  fair 
fame ;  where,  by  wihingly  devoting  himself  to  the 
lowly  duties  of  a  home  missionary  in  this  then  distant 
and  obscure  field,  he  exhibited  a  humility  of  spirit 
almost  more  rare  than  his  great  genius  ;  especially  a 
place  where,  as  one  of  his  biographers  says,  "  He 
doubtless  made  swifter  advances  in  knowledge  than 
ever  before,"  and  where  he  wrought  out  those  works 
which  have  given  him  his  great  fame,  —  must  have  emi- 
nent, if  not  pre-eminent  claims  to  be  associated  with 
him,  as  this  gathering  will  make  Stockbridge  ever  here- 
after to  be.  We  not  only  bid  you  a  cordial  welcome, 
therefore,  honored  friends,  but  we  thank  you  for  com- 
ing, and  for  thus  setting  your  seal  to  our  claims  to  a 
share  in  so  illustrious  an  inheritance. 

As  is  natural,  in  visiting  such  a  place,  you  will  be 
asking  for  objects  that  are  more  especially  associated 
with  Mr.  Edwards.  -The  "effacing  fingers"  of  a  hun- 
dred years  have  left  only  a  very  few  such  objects ; 
but  those  we  shall  be  most  happy  to  point  out  to  you. 
Yonder  on  the  main  street  stands  the  house  which  he 
and  his  family  occupied  during  their  entire  residence 
in  Stockbridge,  much  of  it  comparatively  unchanged. 
Its  present  occupants  will  gladly  receive  you  ;  and 
they  can  show  you,  among  other  things,  the  room, 
and  the  very  spot  in  it,  where  the  great  man  sat  when 


22 


Edwards  Memorial. 


he  penned  his  treatises  on  "The  Freedom  of  the  Will," 
"  The  Nature  of  Virtue,"  and  "  Original  Sin."  A  few 
yards  north-east  of  this  place  where  we  are  gathered 
stood  the  old  Indian  meeting-house  where  he  preached. 
The  building  itself  was  removed  long  since;  but 
through  the  thoughtfulness  and  enterprise  of  one 
of  our  ladies,  who  has  taken  great  interest  in  your 
gathering,  a  fragment  of  oak  preserved  from  it  has 
been  wrought  into  various  little  useful  and  ornamental 
articles,  that  such  of  you  as  wish  it  may  have  some 
memento  to  carry  away  with  you.  In  yonder  burial- 
place  lies  the  dust  of  Mr.  Edwards's  immediate  prede- 
cessor, the  first  missionary  to  the  Indians,  and  first 
pastor  of  this  church,  —  Rev.  John  Sergeant  ;  a  sacred 
spot,  which  he  must  have  often  visited.  There,  too, 
lie  many  of  the  flock  to  whom  he  ministered,  as  well 
as  the  good  and  great  men  who  immediately  suc- 
ceeded him  here,  —  Dr.  Stephen  West  and  Dr.  David 
Dudley  Field.  At  a  little  distance  west  of  here,  and 
overlooking  the  meadows,  is  the  Indian  burying- 
ground,  where  he  must  have  often  performed  the  rites 
of  Christian  burial  over  those  who  had  been  won  from 
heathen  darkness  by  his  teachings.  You  who  are 
familiar  with  Pres.  Edwards's  love  of  Nature,  and 
his  exuberant  delight  in  watching  and  musing  upon 
her  various  aspects,  I  hardly  need  point  to  these 
graceful  hills  and  meadows,  and  this  beautiful  wind- 
ing river.  His  eyes  must  have  often  rested  upon 
them  in  a  way  to  kindle  anew  contemplations  of  "  the 
sweet  glory  of  God,"  wJiicJi  zvas  cva"  revealed  to  him 
in  such  things. 

To  these  various  objects,  then,  descendants  of  Jona- 
than Edwards,  we  welcome  you.     We  welcome  you  to 


Edwards  Memorial.  23 

this  lovely  valley,  to  these  scenes  amid  which  he 
labored,  to  all  that  is  here  associated  with  his  name 
and  memory  ;  and,  while  you  linger  among  them,  we 
bid  you  a  most  cordial  welcome  to  the  best  hospitality 
our  homes  can  afford. 

Before  I  close,  let  me  say  that  there  was  one  per- 
sonal Friend  of  the  great  man  in  whom  he  took  great 
delight;  of  whom  he  said  himself,"!  have  often  had 
sweet  complacency  in"  him.  He  "has  appeared  to  me 
a  glorious  and  lovely  Being."  That  Friend  is  living 
still.  He  is  the  same,  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever. 
We  have  already  joined  with  you,  honored  friends,  in 
special. and  reverent  invitation  to  him  to  be  present  on 
this  occasion.  And  is  not  this  binght  morning  Jus  smil- 
ing acceptance  ?  May  he  indeed  grace  yonr  festival .' 
May  he  contribute,  as  none  other  can,  to  your  en- 
deavors to  honor  the  memory  of  his  faithful  servant ! 
Then  shall  your  coming-together  prove  not  only  as  you 
intend  it,  "  an  act  of  piety  toward  the  illustrious  dead," 
and  "  a  measure  of  h-aternal  regard  for  each  other,"  but 
also  a  means  of  promoting  that  cause  to  which  your 
revered  ancestor  devoted  all  his  great  powers  of  mind 
and  heart. 

This  welcome  received  from  the  president  the  fol- 
lowing brief  response  :  — 

Mv  DEAR  Sir, —  The  welcome  so  eloquently  ex- 
pressed by  you  on  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  Stock- 
bridge,  is,  I  am  sure,  most  heartily  appreciated  by 
these  descendants  of  Jonathan  Edwards. 

You  speak  most  truly  of  the  cordiality  of  this  wel- 
come, which  our  reception  to  these  homes  of  culture 
and  refinement  fully  justifies. 


24  Ediuai'ds  Memorial. 

We  are  glad  we  have  come  to  enjoy  the  hospitality 
which  your  people  have  learned  so  well  to  use,  ac- 
cording to  the  apostolic  injunction,  without  grudg- 
ing. 

In  all  our  dispersions,  we  have  remembered  Stock- 
bridge  as  the  place  where  our  great  progenitor  last 
labored  as  a  pastor,  and  where  he  penned  those  great 
works  mentioned  by  you,  —  works  which  had  never, 
perhaps,  seen  the  light,  had  not  God  permitted  the 
removal  of  his  servant  hither,  where  his  other  duties 
allowed  time  for  this  important  service  ;  thus  making 
him  a  blessing  to  nations  not  a  few. 

We  have  remembered  Stockbridge  as  the  place 
where  the  heads  of  two  of  our  largest  tribes  lived  hon- 
orable and  useful  lives,  and  whence  their  children 
went  out  to  occupy  positions  of  respectability  and  use- 
fulness, and  who  often,  in  the  days  of  their  pilgrimage, 
came  hither  to  the  old  hearthstone.  The  heads  of 
these  two  tribes  died  here  in  peace,  and  were  buried 
in  a  good  old  age  ;  and  their  sepulchres  are  with  you 
until  this  day. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  -their  children  of  the  third 
generation  should  desire  to  come  hither  again  ;  and 
that,  when  we  received  your  invitation  to  come  to 
Stockbridge,  we  felt  like  Jacob  when  he  saw  the 
wagons  sent  by  Joseph,  and  said,  "  It  is  enough  :  the 
spirit  of  our  forefathers  is  still  alive  among  the  people 
of  Stockbridge.  We  will  go  and  see  them  before 
we  die." 

.  The  next  exercise  was  the  Memorial  Address  by 
the  Rev.  Theodore  Dwight  Woolsey,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
President  of  Yale  Collesre. 


Edwards  Memorial.  25 


COMMEMORATIVE    DISCOURSE. 

Twelve  years  more  than  a  century  have  elapsed 
since  our  common  ancestor  left  these  banks  of  the 
Housatonic  for  the  new  field,  which,  in  a  few  weeks, 
was  to  become  his  grave.  His  children  are  no  more; 
and  of  his  grandchildren,  one  lady,  over  ninety,  is  the 
only  survivor.  The  fourth  generation  is  represented 
here  by  a  few  elderly  persons,  one  of  whom  now  pro- 
poses to  speak  to  that  and  to  the  fifth  and  the  sixth 
on  the  life  and  character  of  the  venerated  man  whose 
blood  flows  in  our  veins.  We  are  gathered  from  all 
parts  of  the  land,  and  from  various  walks  of  life.  The 
sacred  calling  which  he  followed,  —  the  office  of  a  col- 
lege-instructor, —  which  death  in  his  case  cut  short  at 
its  very  beginning,  the  professions  and  operations  of 
civil  life,  the  fields  of  business  and  manufactures,  have 
their  representatives  in  our  family  meeting.  We  may 
differ  too,  in  opinion,  even  on  the  most  important  sub- 
jects. Some,  following  his  lines  of  thought,  may  have 
advanced  beyond  the  positions  which  he  occupied,  but 
in  the  same  direction  ;  others,  with  an  intelligence 
inherited  from  him,  may  have  discarded  his  theology 
for  another,  whether  worse  or  better :  but,  however 
we  differ,  we  agree  in  honoring  the  man  who  shone  as 
a  metaphysical  light  in  a  remote  colony  ;  the  inde- 
pendent thinker  and  actor  ;  the  man  who,  beyond  all 
others,  gave  an  impulse  to  the  mind  of  New  England, 
and  has  commanded  the  homage  of  the  best  minds 
of  the  world. 

I  welcome  you,  friends  and  kindred,  to  this  gath- 
ering.      I    welcome    those    ladies    whom    )'()u    have 


26  Edwards  Memorial. 

brought  with  you,  whom  either  you  have  Hnked  to 
the  Edwards  Hne,  or  who  have  admitted  you  to  the 
privileges  of  the  race  ;  and  those  daughters  of  the 
blood,  who  are  destined  to  ally  to  us  some  favored 
mortal,  —  probably  some  young  minister  or  college- 
professor,  led  by  the  perception  of  spiritual  beauty  to 
the  resting-place  of  his  soul,  as  Jonathan  Edwards 
himself  was  led  to  Sarah  Pierrepont.  The  race,  let  me 
say  here,  has  been  rich  in  women  "  whose  works  have 
praised  them  in  the  gates,"  from  the  ten  sisters,  or 
"  sixty  feet  of  sisters,"  of  our  ancestor,  as  tradition 
calls  them,  and  his  eight  daughters,  down  to  the  most 
recent  times.  Nor  is  there  any  sign  that  its  qualities 
in  this  particular  are  degenerating.  From  one  of 
those  eight  daughters,  and  from  her  daughter,  I  derive 
my  relationship  ;  and,  if  there  were  to  be  a  quarrel 
of  sexes  in  the  clan,  I  certainly  should  take  the  female 
side.  But  of  this  I  think  there  can  be  no  danger :  at 
least,  the  standing  of  the  women  among  us  has  been 
too  high  to  make  it  safe  for  the  men  to  come  to  a 
rupture  with  them.  Nor  have  they  any  need  to  com- 
plain of  a  disregard  of  their  rights.  At  all  events,  we 
are  one  here  in  our  veneration  for  our  common  ances- 
tor, of  whom  I  have  undertaken  to  speak. 

It  is  not  in  terms  of  eulogy  that  I  mean  to  speak 
of  him.  My  aim  is  to  present  you  an  idea  of  the  man  ; 
interweaving,  for  that  purpose,  the  circumstances  of 
his  outward  life,  so  far  as  they  bear  on  that  idea,  but 
making  his  inward  life,  intellectual,  moral,  and  reli- 
gious, the  point  towards  which  every  thing  is  to  be 
referred  and  directed. 

Jonathan  Edwards  was  born  in  1703,  at  an  age 
of  English  history,  when,  in  the  mother-country,  the 


Edwards  Memorial.  27 

old  religious  feeling  of  the  previous  century  had  given 
way  to  irreligion  and  to  scepticism.  We  see  a  change 
going  on  for  the  worse,  not  only  in  the  Church  of 
England,  but  among  the  dissenters  also.  The  seed 
sown  by  Hobbes  and  others  appears  in  the  philosophy 
of  sensation,  in  new  theories  of  government,  in  the. 
prevalence  of  free  thinking,  in  a  lower  standard  of 
morals  and  of  honor.  Theology  was  changing  its 
tone,  and  passing  over  from  the  Calvinism  of  the  puri- 
tanical age  and  of  the  early  English  Church,  which 
even  Dr.  South,  with  all  his  hatred  of  political  Puri- 
tanism, could  not  reject,  beyond  the  Arminianism  im- 
ported from  Holland,  to  the  loose  notions  of  Hoadlcy 
and  the  semi-Arianism  of  Clarke.  The  Scotch  almost 
alone,  or  rather  the  stricter  party  in  the  Presbyterian 
Kirk,  presented  a  stout  front  to  what  they  conceived 
to  be  grievous  doctrinal  errors. 

In  the  Puritan  colonies,  also,  the  spirit  and  faith 
of  the  earliest  ministers  and  magistrates  was  no  lonsfer 
fully  kept  up.  What  was  called  Arminianism  — 
whether  it  was  in  truth  such,  or  only  a  weak  shade  of 
Calvinism,  I  will  not  stop  to  inquire  —  was  begin- 
ning to  be  extensively  prevalent.  The  churches  were 
settling  on  their  lees  without  life  or  spirit.  The  usage 
had  crept  in,  against  which  the  old  Puritan  theory 
of  conversion  and  the  Puritan  strictness  of  discipline 
would  alike  have  protested,  that  the  Lord's  supper 
was  a  converting  ordinance,  from  which  persons  who 
gave  no  evidence  of  any  thing  more  than  a  moral  life 
ought  not  to  be  excluded.  Thus  as  many  churches  as 
embraced  this  view,  which  prevailed  extensively  and 
in  the  most  important  parishes,  were  deadened,  and 
filled  with  communicants  who  brou<rht  in  feebleness 


2  8  Edzvards  Memorial. 

in  proportion  to  their  numbers.  To  this  we  may  acid, 
that  although  the  power  of  the  clergy,  as  the  leaders 
of  religious  thought,  was  not  yet  much  reduced,  the 
generations  of  ministers  following  the  first  were  by 
no  means  their  equals  in  learning  or  in  earnestness. 
It  is  not  the  least  among  the  claims  of  Edwards  to 
the  respect  and  grateful  recollections  of  New  England, 
that  he  stimulated  thought  as  well  as  religious  ac- 
tivity :  so  that  those  who  followed  him,  and  partook 
of  his  opinions,  were  in  some  important  points  another 
kind  of  men,  more  powerful,  more  impressive,  more 
disposed  to  look  to  speedy  results,  than  those  were  who 
went  before  him. 

Edwards  was  born  in  a  parish  lying  on  the  eastern 
bank  of  the  Connecticut,  which  was  separated  from 
the  older  parish  of  Windsor  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  inhabitants,  who  before  had  crossed  a  large  river 
by  ferry  when  they  went  to  church.  His  father,  the 
son  of  a  leading  settler  in  Hartford,  a  graduate  of  the 
college  at  Cambridge,  a  son-in-law  of  Solomon  Stod- 
dard, minister  at  Northampton,  and  withal  a  man 
of  power  and  of  standing  among  his  brethren,  was  the 
first  minister  of  the  new  parish.  In  this  simple, 
somewhat  retired  settlement  of  farmers,  Timothy 
Edwards  preached  the  Word  and  broke  the  bread  for 
sixty-three  years.  He  died  in  the  same  year  with  his 
son  ;  while  his  wife,  Esther  Stoddard,  survived  him 
until  she  reached  the  age  of  ninety-nine.  They  had 
ten  daughters,  seven  of  whom  were  married  and  left 
posterity.  Jonathan  came  after  four  of  them.  They 
were  well  educated  for  their  opportunities  ;  and  we 
find  the  brother  reciting  his  Latin  to  his  older  sisters. 
One  may,  not  without  reason,  ascribe  to  this  numerous 


Edwards  Memorial.  29 

band  of  sisters  a  decided  influence  on  the  manners 
and  character  of  the  brother.  May  it  not  be  said, 
too,  that  the  feminine  element  was  infused  from  the 
first  into  his  nature  more  largely  than  it  entered  into 
many  or  most  of  the  New-England  ministers  ?  With 
his  masculine  intellect  he  had  a  gentleness,  and  per- 
haps a  receptivity  of  spirit,  which  does  not  always 
belong  to  his  sex.  His  face  itself,  if  I  mistake  not, 
indicates  that  in  him  the  leading  male  and  female 
traits  were  blended.* 

Edwards,  I  believe,  had  no  instruction  outside 
of  his  father's  house.  His  father  was  a  scholar  of  con- 
sideration, and  received  pupils  into  his  family  to  fit 
them  for  college ;  but  doubtless  he  did  not  differ 
from  the  ministers  around  him  in  possessing  a  small 
library,  and  that  chiefly  composed  of  religious  works. 
It  was  a  happy  circumstance  for  the  child,  that  in  the 
seclusion  of  this  new  parish,  and  in  the  want  of  enter- 
taining books  which  now  dissipate  and  weaken  the 
minds  of  the  young,  he  was  thrown  upon  observation 
of  Nature  and  upon  reflection.  We  are  not  accus- 
tomed to  attribute  the  first  of  these  tendencies  to  his 
mind,  but  to  regard  him  rather  like  one  of  the  school- 
men, —  as  working  over  by  logical  processes  the  truth 
furnished  by  consciousness  and  revelation.  Such, 
however,  was  not  the  case  :  at  least,  there  was  no  bias 
in  the  original  traits  of  his  mind  which  led  him  exclu- 
sively to  the  metaphysical.  His  observations  on  the 
habits  of  a  wood-spider,  written,  as  Dr.  Sereno  Ed- 
wards Dwight,  who  first  published  it,  judges  from  the 
handwriting,  at  about  the  age  of  twelve,  is  remarka- 

*  The  portrait,  a  copy  of  an  original,  supposed  to  be  by  Sniibert, 
and  taken  at  Dr.  Erskine's  request,  hung  near  the  pulpit. 


30  Edwards  Memorial. 

ble,  alike  for  the  nicety  of  the  notices,  and  for  the 
attempt  to  detect  the  motives  of  the  animal  in  its 
operations.  His  notes  on  natural  science,  also  pub- 
lished by  the  same  biographer,  written,  as  it  seems, 
either  during  his  college-life,  or  shortly  afterwards, 
disclose  a  subtlety  and  interest  of  mind  in  the  attempts 
to  grasp  and  fix  the  metaphysics  of  natural  philosophy, 
which  might  easily  have  been  diverted,  under  favoring 
circumstances,  from  scholastic  theology,  and  have 
turned  him  into  a  natural  philosopher  of  no  mean 
attainments. 

Thus  fitted  at  home  for  a  college-life,  he  entered 
Yale  College  in  1716,  and  was  graduated  just  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  —  at  the  age  of  seventeen. 
The  year  after  his  entrance  was  the  year  when  an  act 
of  the  General  Assembly  removed  it  to  New  Haven  ; 
and  when  the  college-building  received  from  Elihu 
Yale,  a  native  of  the  town,  sometime  governor  of 
Madras,  and  lord  of  the  manor  of  Wrexham  in  Wales, 
the  name  which  afterwards  went  over  to  the  institu- 
tion itself  The  great  contentions  in  the  colony  touch- 
ing the  future  seat  of  the  college  had  dispersed  the 
students  ;  and,  for  a  time,  it  had  no  rector.  Edwards 
studied  in  his  second  and  third  years  with  a  part  of  the 
students  at  Wethersfield.  On  the  removal  of  a  certain 
cause  of  complaint,  and  the  election  of  Rector  Cutler, 
the  college  was  united  ;  and  Edwards  pursued  his 
studies  in  the  latter  part  of  his  college-life  under  the 
rector  at  New  Haven.  The  number  of  students  dur- 
ing the  infancy  of  the  college,  and  while  he  was  an 
undergraduate,  was  never  more  than  about  thirty. 

The  education  at  the  college  when  he  was  there 
deserves  to  be  taken  into  account  as  one  of  the  lead- 


Edzuards  Memorial.  31 

ing  influences  in  the  formation  of  his  mind.  The 
studies  of  the  freshmen  were  devoted  to  Latin,  Greek, 
and  Hebrew,  until,  towards  the  close  of  the  year,  they 
might  be  put  into  logic,  if  the  tutors  thought  them 
mature  enough.  In  the  second  year,  four  days  in 
each  week  were  devoted  to  the  study  of  logic  ;  in  the 
third,  physics  was  the  principal  study  ;  and  in  the 
fourth,  metaphysics  and  mathematics.  All  the  under- 
graduates disputed  syllogistically  five  times  a  week. 
On  Saturday  morning,  Ames's  "  Medulla,"  a  compend 
of  theology,  and  on  Sunday  his  "  Cases  of  Conscience," 
were  text-books.  The  Assembly's  Catechism  in  Latin 
was  also  introduced  into  the  course.  Various  text- 
books were  employed  in  logic  ;  as  that  of  Ramus, 
the  eminent  Huguenot,  of  Burgersdicius,  of  Cracken- 
thorp,  and  of  Keckerman.  \\\  physics,  a  manuscript 
prepared  by  Rector  Pierson  was  at  one  time  used. 
Edwards,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  his  father,  says  that 
the  rector  vv^ould  have  him  get  Alsted's  Geometry 
and  Gassendi's  Astronomy  for  study  in  his  senior 
year :  the  former  was  one  of  the  many  compilations 
of  Alsted,  a  reformed  German  divine ;  and  the  other 
a  brief  work  of  the  celebrated  French  astronomer, 
Gassendi,  filling  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  pages. 
They  were  both,  perhaps,  in  the  original  Latin,  as 
several  of  the  other  text-books  must  have  been.  Latin 
was  talked  freely,  and  was  written,  but  with  no  great 
correctness,  hito  the  mathematical  course  only  the 
geometrical  method  entered  ;  and  algebra  was,  I  be- 
lieve, not  then  studied.  Neither  rhetoric,  nor  the 
practice  of  composition,  nor  aesthetics,  nor  political 
and  historical  science,  was  cultivated  ;  and  most  of  th^ 
modern  natural  sciences  were  as  yet  undeveloped. 


32  Edzvards  Memorial. 

This  narrow  culture  was  not  so  bad  in  shaping  the 
mind  as  one  might  think  ;  but  it  was  one-sided  :  too 
much  was  made  of  formal  logic  ;  and  the  wHoIe  system 
was  intended  for  students  of  theology,  who  formed  more 
than  half  of  almost  every  class.  In  his  second  year, 
Edwards  read  "  Locke  on  the  Human  Understandins:," 
in  connection  with  his  logical  studies  ;  and  this,  if  we 
mistake  not,  more  than  every  thing  else,  attracted  his 
attention  towards  metaphysical  science.  He  was,  as 
I  understand  it,  a  disciple  of  Locke  in  his  doctrine  of 
perception  and  of  ideas,  but  with  a  mind  quite  too  deep 
to  be  satisfied  with  applying  the  principles  of  the  phi- 
losopher to  the  study  of  theology.  What  other  books 
tended  to  form  his  philosophy,  I  do  not  know.  He 
quotes  in  one  of  his  early  notes  Cudworth's  "  Intel- 
lectual System  ; "  and,  in  another  place,  contrasts  the 
old  logic  with  a  system  that  had  more  recently  become 
known  to  him.  The  college  library,  when  he  was  a 
student  and  a  tutor,  might  have  supplied  him  with 
some  of  the  principal  books  then  known.  But  he  was 
as  much  indebted  to  his  own  reflection  as  to  any 
outward  source,  if  not  more. 

The  biographer  of  Edwards,  Dr.  Sereno  E.  Dwight, 
has  given  to  the  world  his  speculations  on  the  mind 
and  on  natural  science,  begun,  perhaps,  when  he  was 
in  college,  and  continued  for  some  few  years  after- 
wards. I  have  not  found  any  evidence  that  these 
inquiries  were  resumed  at  a  later  period  :  probably 
his  ministerial  work  and  the  science  of  theology 
with  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  occupied  all  his 
attention  during  his  later  years.  They  are  therefore 
the  speculations  of  the  boy  and  the  youth,  from  the 
age  of  seventeen  to  that  of  twenty-two  ;  and,  as  such, 


Edwards  Memorial.  -x^-ii 

are  truly  remarkable  for  the  indications  they  give 
of  subtlety  and  profound  thought  at  such  an  age,  as 
well  as  of  independence.  It  seems  that  they  took  the 
shape  of  a  treatise,  which  he  entitles  "  The  Natural 
History  of  the  Mental  World,  or  of  the  Internal 
World,"  which  was  to  be  preceded  by  an  Introduction 
"concerning  the  two  worlds,  —  the  external  and  the 
internal  ;  the  external  the  subject  of  natural  piii- 
losophy,  the  internal  our  own  minds."  Then  follow 
subjects  to  be  handled  in  the  treatise  on  the  mind, 
which  run  through  all  the  departments  of  the  science, 
but  are  arranged  as  they  happened  to  occur  to  him 
while  his  pen  was  in  his  hand.  A  specimen  or  two 
will  show  his  strain  of  reflection  :  "  All  sorts  of  ideas 
of  things  are  but  the  repetitions  of  those  things  over 
again."  "  Perceptions  or  ideas  that  we  passively 
receive  by  our  bodies  are  communicated  to  us  imme- 
diately by  God,  while  our  minds  are  united  to  our 
bodies  ;  but  only  we  in  some  measure  know  the  rule." 
"  The  knowledge  of  inspiration  "  [that  is,  knowledge 
conveyed  to  a  mind  by  inspiration]  "  is  in  a  sense 
intuitive,  much  in  the  same  manner  as  faith  and 
spiritual  knowledge  of  the  things  of  religion  ;  but  yet 
there  are,  doubtless,  various  degrees  in  inspiration." 
"Genus  is  not  merely  a  tying  of  things  together 
under  the  same  name  (for  I  do  believe  that  deaf  and 
dumb  persons  abstract  and  distribute  things  into 
kinds)  ;  but  it  is  so  putting  them  together  under  a 
common  notion,  as  if  they  were  a  collective  substance." 
He  has  a  long  examination  of  what  "excellency" 
means,  which  he  regards  as  synonymous  with  beauty. 
"  Simple  equality  without  proportion  is  the  lowest 
kind  of  regularity,  and  may  be  called  simple  beauty  : 


34  Edwards  Memorial. 

proportion  is  complex  beauty.  All  beauty  consists 
in  similarness,  or  identity  of  relation.  Spiritual  har- 
monies are  of  vastly  larger  extent ;  i.e.,  the  propor- 
tions arc  vastly  oftener  redoubled,  and  respect  more 
beings,  and  require  a  vastly  larger  view  to  comprehend 
them.  Excellency  consists  in  the  similarness  of  one 
l^eing  to  another ;  not  merely  equality  and  propor- 
tion, but  any  kind  of  similarness, —  thus  similarness 
of  direction."  In  the  notes  on  natural  science, — 
which  were  written  at  the  same  early  period,  and 
perhaps  intended  to  form  one  whole  with  the  notes 
on  the  mind,  —  he  goes  in  one  place  almost  to  the 
extreme  of  idealism.  "  Suppose,"  says  he,  "  there 
were  another  universe  merely  of  bodies,  created  at 
a  great  distance  from  this  ;  created  in  excellent  order, 
[with]  harmonious  motions  and  a  beautiful  variety ;  and 
there  were  no  created  intelligence  in  it,  nothing  but 
senseless  bodies,  and  nothing  but  God  knew  any  thing 
of  it.  I  demand  where  else  that  universe  would  have 
a  being  but  only  in  the  divine  consciousness }  Let 
us  suppose,  for  illustration,  this  impossibility,  —  that 
all  the  spirits  in  the  universe  were  for  a  time  deprived 
of  their  consciousness,  and  that  God's  consciousness 
were  at  the  same  time  to  be  intermitted.  I  say,  the 
universe,  for  that  time,  would  cease  to  be  of  itself" 
That  is,  thought  is  the  only  being  ;  ideas,  and  so  exist- 
ence, are  in  God  ;  which  is  the  pantheistic  extreme 
of  ideal  philosophy.  But  he  was,  in  truth,  far  from 
this  theory. 

In  other  places  of  his  notes  on  natural  philoso- 
phy he  makes  some  striking  remarks.  He  maintains 
the  compressibility  of  water  in  the  abyss  under  the 
earth,  and  that  to  such  an  extent  as  to  become  spe- 


Edzuards  Memorial.  35 

cifically  heavier  than  the  soil ;  so  that  a  column  of 
earth  will  float  on  its  surface.  He  is  aware  that 
water  becomes  lighter  when  it  is  frozen,  and  tries 
to  show  how  this  ought  to  be  so.  He  thinks  it  cer- 
tain, when  God  first  created  matter,  that  besides 
creating  the  atoms,  and  giving  the  whole  chaos  its 
motion,  he  designed  the  figure  and  shape  of  every 
atom,  and  likewise  their  places  ;  so  that,  "  without " 
[his]  "  doing  any  thing  more,  the  chaoses  of  them- 
selves, according  to  the  established  laws  of  mat- 
ter, were  brought  into  these  various  and  excellent 
forms,  adapted  to  every  of  God's  ends,  excepting  the 
more  excellent  works  of  plants  and  animals,  which 
it  was  proper  and  fit  God  should  have  an  immediate 
hand  in." 

r  know  not  how  far  any  of  these  early  thoughts 
were  original,  and  how  far  suggested  ;  but  they  show 
an  early  if  not  irresistible  tendency  to  speculation, 
which  was  fostered  by  the  prominence  of  logic  in  the 
discipline  of  the  college,  and  by  the  fewness  of  books, 
which  threw  inquiring  minds  upon  themselves.  They 
show,  also,  a  mind  of  vast  comprehension,  which  at 
such  an  age  opened  itself  to  all  intelligible  things. 
There  is  no  doubt,  I  think,  that,  with  other  op- 
portunities, he  might  have  been  as  eminent  in  nat- 
ural philosophy  as  he  afterwards  became  in  meta- 
physics and  theology.  On  the  whole,  then,  he  was 
none  the  worse  for  his  one-sided  education,  if  we 
consider  the  sphere  which  he  was  afterwards  called 
to  fill. 

Having  passed  through  the  academical  course  with 
the  highest  rank  in  his  class,  and  delivered  the  fare- 
well address  at  his  graduation,  —  the  only  one  besides 


36  Edwards  Memorial. 

the  usual  tTieses,*  —  he  spent  the  greater  part  of  the 
next  two  years  at  the  college  in  the  study  of  theology 
and  philosophy.  He  began  to  preach  before  he  was 
nineteen  ;  and  was  soon  afterwards  called,  in  August, 
1722,  to  minister  to  a  small  congregation  of  Presby- 
terians in  New  York.  He  preached  there  about 
eight  months  ;  then  spent  a  short  time  in  study  at  his 
father's  house  ;  then  continued  his  studies  for  a  time 
at  Yale  College,  until  he  entered  upon  the  office  of  a 
tutor.  This  office,  commencing  in  June,  1724,  he 
filled  through  the  two  succeeding  academical  years. 
They  were  years  of  confusion  and  responsibility  ;  for 
the  infant  college  was  without  a  rector,  and  was 
wholly  dependent  on  the  tutors  for  instruction  :  but 
he  and  his  c611eagues  were  fully  equal  to  their  respon- 
sibilities, as  appears  from  the  testimony  of  a  most 
competent  judge,  Pres.  Stiles,  who  was  familiar  with 
the  history  of  the  institution  more  than  any  other 
man,  and  whose  father  was  intimately  acquainted  with 
Edwards  and  his  family. 

These  years,  from  1720  to  1726  inclusive,  while 
they  mark  the  formative  stage  of  his  philosophical 
and  theological  system,  were  more  important  on  ac- 
count of  the  development  of  his  religious  life,  which 
must  be  specially  referred  to  this  period.  He  was  a 
Puritan  boy,  brought  up  in  the  simple  manners  of  a 
new  country  parish  and  in  the  strict  morals  of  a  Puri- 
tan minister's  family,  unacquainted  with  temptation, 
and  having  no  struggles  to  pass  through  such  as 
appear  in  the  history  of  Augustine,  Luther,  and  some 

*  This  salutatory  and  valedictory  address  is  in  tlie  liands  of  Mrs. 
Cyntliia  Woodbridge  of  Spencertown,  N.Y.,  wife  of  Rev.  Timotliy 
Woodbridfie. 


Edwards  Mc^norial.  t^j 

others  of  the  greater  lights  of  the  Christian  Church. 
He  records  his  trouble  in  regard  to  his  religious  his- 
tory in  these  words  :  "  The  chief  thing  that  now 
makes  me  in  any  measure  to  question  my  good  estate 
is  my  not  having  experienced  conversion  in  those  par- 
ticular steps  wherein  the  people  of  New  England,  and 
anciently  the  dissenters  of  Old  England,  used  to  expe- 
rience it.  Wherefore  now  resolved  never  to  leave 
searching  till  I  have  satisfyingly  found  out  the  very 
bottom  and  foundation,  —  the  real  reason  why  they 
used  to  be  converted  in  those  steps."  And  yet  he 
speaks  of  "  a  variety  of  concerns  and  exercises  about 
his  soul  from  his  childhood,  which  seemed  to  him  to 
end  in  nothing,  until,  after  an  attack  of  pleurisy  in  his 
last  year  in  college,  he  made  seeking  salvation  the 
main  business  of  his  life."  Now  it  was  that  the  doc- 
trine of  God's  sovereignty  was  accepted  by  him  ;  now 
it  was  that  he  began  to  have  (we  repeat  his  expres- 
sions) "  a  new  kind  of  apprehensions  and  ideas'  of 
Christ,  and  the  work  of  redemption,  and  the  glorious 
way  of  salvation  through  him."  "  I  found,"  he  says, 
"  an  inward  sweetness  that  would  carry  me  away  in 
my  contemplations.  This  I  know  not  how  to  ex- 
press otherwise  than  by  a  calm,  sweet  abstraction 
of  soul  from  all  the  concerns  of  this  world  ;  and  some- 
times a  kind  of  vision,  or  fixed  ideas  and  imagination, 
of  being  alone  in  the  mountains,  or  some  solitary  wil- 
derness, far  from  all  mankind,  sweetly  conversing  with 
Christ,  and  rapt  and  swallowed  up  in  God.  The 
sense  I  had  of  divine  things  would  often,  of  a  sudden, 
kindle  up,  as  it  were,  a  sweet  burning  in  my  heart, — 
an  ardor  of  soul  that  I  know  not  how  to  express." 
This  passage  shows  one  of  the  capacities  and  ten- 


38  Edwards  Memorial. 

dencics  of  his  religious  life,  —  a  leaning  towards  the 
ideal  and  mystical,  of  which  we  intend  to  speak  again, 
and  which  formed  a  happy  amalgam  with  the  ration- 
alism of  New  England  and  of  Calvinism  generally. 
He  did  not,  however,  rest  in  such  frames  of  exalted 
religious  thought  and  feeling  ;  but  his  aim,  especially 
from  the  time  when  he  began  to  preach,  —  at  the  age 
of  nineteen,  in  New  York, —  was  to  become  a  thorough- 
ly holy  man  in  purpose  and  life.  This  appears  in  his 
resolutions  and  his  contemporaneous  diary  of  the 
years  between  1722  and  1725.  The  resolutions  are 
well  known,  and  have  helped  the  religious  progress 
of  many  who  believed  in  heart-religion,  and  in  living 
on  a  plan  of  subordinating  everything  to  the  interests 
of  the  spiritual  life.  They  are  of  such  a  kind,  that  a 
religious  Catholic  or  Lutheran  or  English  Churchman 
would  receive  with  joy,  and  act  on,  nearly  all  of  them. 
Some  of  them  show  the  comprehensiveness  and  scope 
of  his  mind :  "  Resolved  that  I  will  do  whatsoever  I 
think  to  be  most  to  the  glory  of  God  and  my  own 
good  profit  and  pleasure  in  the  whole  of  my  dura- 
tion, without  any  consideration  of  the  time,  —  whether 
now,  or  never  so  many  myriads  of  ages  hence."  Others 
show  a  tendency  towards  self-analysis  which  was  in 
him,  and  which  he,  by  his  works,  subsequently  aided 
to  propagate  in  others  :  "  Resolved  constantly,  with 
the  utmost  niceness  and  diligence,  and  the  strictest 
scrutiny,  to  be  looking  into  the  state  of  my  soul, 
that  I  may  know  whether  I  have  truly  an  interest  in 
Christ  or  not."  Others,  again,  show  a  purpose  of  the 
strictest  self-government,  reaching  to  asceticism : 
"  Resolved  never  to  lose  one  moment  of  time,  but  to 
improve  it  in  the  most  profitable  way  I  possibly  can." 


Edwards  Alcmorial.  39 

"Resolved  to  maintain  the  strictest  temperance  in 
eating  and  drinking."  "  Resolved  never  to  say  any 
thing  at  all  against  anybody  but  when  it  is  perfectly 
agreeable  to  the  highest  degree  of  Christian  honor 
and  of  love  to  mankind,  agreeable  to  the  lowest 
humility,  and  sense  of  my  own  faults  and  failings, 
and  agreeable  to  the  golden  rule."  The  same  views 
re-appear  in  his  diary.  "These  things"  [are]  "estab- 
lished," he  says,  "that  time  gained  in  things  of  lesser 
importance  is  as  much  gained  in  things  of  greater  ; 
that  a  minute  gained  in  times  of  confusion,  conversa- 
tion, or  in  a  journey,  is  as  good  as  a  minute  gained  in 
my  most  retired  times."  And  he  determines,  when  he 
is  unfit  for  any  other  business,  to  perfect  himself  in 
writing  short-hand  ;  and,  when  he  is  in  want  of  good 
books,  to  spend  time  in  studying  mathematics  and  in 
reviewing  other  kinds  of  old  learning.  More  than 
once  he  returns  to  the  subject  of  a  spare  diet,  and  he 
set  up  quite  a  severe  rule  for  himself;  but  he  con- 
fesses that  he  finds,  when  eating,  that  he  cannot  be 
convinced  in  the  time  of  it,  that,  if  he  should  eat 
more,  he  should  exceed  the  bounds  of  temperance, 
though  he  has  had  the  experience  of  two  years. 

If  we  had  time,  we  would  willingly  dwell  on  this 
part  of  his  religious  history,  which  shows  the  forma- 
tion of  his  character  and  the  foundation  of  his  future 
greatness.  Some  of  his  utterances  are  truly  beauti- 
ful and  striking  ;  such  as  these  :  "  Resolved  to  live  so 
at  all  times  as  I  think  is  best  in  my  most  dcv^out 
frames,  and  v/hen  I  have  the  clearest  notions  of  the 
things  of  the  gospel  and  another  world."  "  Re- 
solved to  endeavor  to  obtain  for  myself  as  much  hap- 
piness in  the  other  world  as  1  possibly  can  with   all 


40  Edwards-  MeinoiHal. 

the  power,  might,  vigor,  and  vehemence,  yea,  violence, 
I  am  capable  of,  or  can  bring  myself  to  exert,  in 
any  way  that  can  be  thought  of"  "  Resolved  to  en- 
deavor, to  my  utmost,  to  deny  whatever  is  not  most 
agreeable  to  a  good  and  universally  sweet  and  benevo- 
lent, quiet  and  peaceable,  contented  and  easy,  compas- 
sionate and  generous,  humble  and  meek,  submissive 
and  obliging,  diligent  and  industrious,  charitable,  and 
even  patient,  moderate,  forgiving,  and  sincere  tem- 
jier."  Others  seem  to  me  to  be  quite  characteristic  ; 
as,  "  Resolved,  when  I  thnik  of  any  theorem  in  divinity 
to  be  solved,  immediately  to  do  what  I  can  towards 
solving  it,  if  circumstances  do  not  hinder."  So  in 
his  diary  he  determines,  when  violently  beset  with 
temptation,  or  unable  to  rid  himself  of  evil  thoughts, 
to  do  some  problem  in  arithmetic  or  geometry,  or  some 
other  study,  which  keeps  his  thoughts  from  wander- 
ing. He  notices  in  another  place  that  some  evil 
habits  appear  in  old  age,  even  in  some  good  people, 
and  obscure  the  beauty  of  their  character  ;  and  that 
old  Christians  are  very  commonly,  in  some  respects, 
more  unreasonable  than  those  who  are  young.  "  I  am 
afraid,"  he  continues,  "of  contracting  such  habits,  par- 
ticularly of  grudging  to  give  and  to  do,  and  of  pro- 
crastinating." 

A  grand  resolution,  showing  the  man,  may  finish 
what  we  have  to  say  of  this  part  of  his  life  :  "  On  the 
supposition  that  there  never  was  to  be  but  one  indi- 
vidual in  the  world,  at  any  one  time,  who  was  properly 
a  complete  Christian  of  a  right  stamp,  having  Chris- 
tianity always  shining  in  its  true  lustre,  from  whatever 
part  and  under  whatever  character  viewed,  resolved 
to  act  just  as  I  would  do  if  I  strove  with  all  my  might 


Edwards  Memorial.  41 

to  be  that  one."  And  this  end  of  sauithness  in  heart 
and  life,  beyond  the  men  of  his  time,  he  did,  in  some 
measure,  reach. 

Fitted  in  ah  eminent  degree  to  take  care  of  souls  by 
the  care  he  had  taken  of  his  own  soul  and  of  his  rea- 
son, he  was  ordained,  near  the  beginning  of  1727,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-three,  as  colleague  with  his  grand- 
father Stoddard,  over  the  parish  of  Northampton. 
This  was  one  of  the  leading  inland  parishes  of  New 
England.  He  received  the  call  to  settle  here,  doubt- 
less, partly  on  account  of  his  own  repute  as  a  scholar 
and  a  Christian,  and  partly  on  account  of  his  relation 
to  the  present  incumbent,  who  had  now  stood  at  his 
post  for  more  than  half  a  century,  and  was  surpassed 
in  esteem  and  influence  by  few  of  his  brethren.  The 
first  duty  of  the  young  minister  was  to  find  a  wife  ;  and 
his  eye  had  already  been  turned  toward;;  ihc  daugh- 
ter of  the  minister  at  New  Haven,  —  James  Pierre- 
pont,  a  descendant  in  the  younger  line  of  the  noble 
English  family  bearing  that  name,  who  was  a  promi- 
nent clergyman  in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  one  of 
the  founders  of  Yale  College,  and  the  leading  origi- 
nator of  the  Saybrook  Platform,  on  which  the  ecclesi- 
astical order  of  the  churches  in  that  Colony,  as  estab- 
lished by  law  in  1708,  was  resting.  As  early  as  1723, 
he  had  heard  an  account  of  the  high  religious  charac- 
ter of  this  young  lady,  then  under  the  age  of  fourteen, 
and  has  left  a  record  of  that  date  concerning  her, 
which  at  once  shows  her  fitness  for  him  as  a  religious 
companion,  and  his  own  idealizing,  somewhat  poetical 
conception.  "  They  say,"  writes  he,  "there  is  a  young 
lady  [in  New  Haven]  who  is  beloved  of  that  great 
Being  who  made  and  rules  the  world  ;  and  that  there 


42  Edwards  Mcmoidal. 

are  certain  seasons  in  which  this  great  Being,  in  some 
way  or  other  invisible,  comes  to  her,  and  fills  her 
mind  with  exceeding  sweet  delight  ;  and  that  she 
hardly  cares  for  any  thing  except  to  meditate  on  him  ; 
that  she  expects,  after  a  while,  to  be  received  np  where 
he  is,  —  to  be  raised  up  out  of  the  world,  and  caught 
up  into  heaven  ;  being  assured  that  he  loves  her  too 
well  to  let  her  remain  at  a  distance  from  him  always. 
She  has  a  strange  sweetness  in  her  mind,  and  singular 
purity  in  her  affections  ;  is  most  just  and  conscien- 
tious in  all  her  conduct  ;  and  you  could  not  persuade 
her  to  do  any  thing  wrong  or  sinful  if  you  would  give 
all  the  world,  lest  she  should  offend  this  great  Being. 
She  is  of  wonderful  sweetness,  calmness,  and  univer- 
sal benevolence  of  mind,  especially  after  this  great 
God  has  manifested  himself  to  her  mind.  She  will 
sometimes  go  about  from  place  to  place,  singing 
sweetly;  and  seems  to  be  always  full  of  joy  and  pleas- 
ure, and  no  one  knows  for  what.  She  loves  to  be 
alone,  walking  in  the  fields  and  groves ;  and  seems  to 
have  some  one  invisible  always  conversing  with  her." 
When  he  wrote  this  remarkable  passage,  he  had  not 
become  acquainted  with  her,  but  was  evidently  pre- 
pared to  love  the  image  which  he  describes.  Nor 
when  he  made  her  his  own,  and  bore  her  away  to  the 
banks  of  the  Connecticut,  did  the  image  turn  out  to 
be  an  unreal  one.  This  mother  of  his  eleven  chil- 
dren, this  mother  of  us  all,  Iriends  and  kindred,  de- 
serves to  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance,  especially 
on  a  day  like  this.  She  was  not  only  a  conditio  sine 
qua  non  for  the  ministerial  usefulness  of  her  husband, 
but  a  soul  whose  standard  of  Christian  life  was  as 
high  as  his  own  ;  and  probably  her  more  joyous,  occa- 


Edwards  Memorial.  43 

sionally  rapturous  experience  helped  his  broad-look- 
ing, over-burdened  mind  over  many  an  obstacle  in  the 
road  of  life.  It  was  to  this  exalted  religious  life 
of  hers  that  "  Father  Moody "  of  York  must  have 
alluded,  when,  having  spoken  highly  of  Edwards  on 
a  public  occasion,  supposing  him  to  be  absent,  he 
added,  on  discovering  his  mistake,  "Mr.  Edwards,  I 
didn't  intend  to  flatter  you  ;  but  there  is  one  thing 
I'll  tell  you  :  they  say  that  your  wife  is  a-going  to 
heaven  by  a  shorter  road  than  yourself"  Perhaps, 
without  disparagement  to  her  female  descendants,  we 
may  say  of  her  with  truth,  "  Many  daughters  have 
done  virtuously  ;  but  thou  excellest  them  all." 

Edwards  remained  minister  of  the  church  in  North- 
ampton three  and  twenty  years.  His  grandfather 
survived  the  beginning  of  his  pastorate  about  two 
years.  The  end  of  it  was  clouded  by  a  difference 
of  opinion  between  him  and  his  people  on  a  most 
important  point  of  Christian  order  in  the  church,  as  to 
which  he  evidently  coitld  make  no  concessions  in 
good  conscience  ;  and  they,  urged  on  by  their  advisers 
within  and  without  the  parish,  zuotild  make  none : 
and  so  he  was  dismissed  from  his  charge,  and  thrown 
into  the  uncertainties  of  life,  at  a  time  when  his  large 
family  most  needed  support.  The  years  between  his 
ordination  and  this  greatest  of  his'  trials  were  the  sum- 
mer-time of  his  life :  the  years  that  went  before 
were  the  sowing  of  the  seed  ;  those  that  followed  were 
chiefly  the  gathering-in  of  the  sheaves.  We  might 
dwell  long  upon  them,  if  it  were  possible  ;  but  wc  shall 
content  ourselves  with  a  few  words  devoted  to  certain 
points  which  are  fitted  to  bring  out  the  man  and  his 
efficiency  in  a  clear  light.    These  are  his  habits  of  life 


44  Edwards  Memorial. 

and  study;  his  success  as  a  minister,  together  with 
the  extraordinary  revivals  of  religion  which  followed 
his  preaching ;  and  the  controversy  on  the  terms  of 
church-membership,  which  put  an  end  to  his  ministe- 
rial life  at  Northampton.  The  revivals  of  religion  first 
made  him  extensively  known  as  an  author,  not  only  in 
the  Colonies,  but  in  Great  Britain,  especially  in  Scot- 
land, where  men  of  kindred  minds  appreciated  his 
worth,  supplied  him  with  books  which  he  could  not 
otherwise  have  had  access  to,  and  stimulated  him  by 
their  correspondence.  This  again  re-acted  greatly  in 
favor  of  his  literary  efficiency  ;  and  beyond  question, 
while  he  would  have  been  the  same  man  without  the 
aids  and  helps  of  these  foreign  friends,  he  would  not 
have  been  known  as  one  of  the  leading  metaphysicians 
and  theologians  of  tl>e  century. 

He  entered  into  his  new  sphere,  as  we  have  seen, 
with  a  most  strict  view  of  the  importance  of  time,  and 
of  his  obligation  to  economize  it  as  far  as  possible. 
He  was  in  his  study  writing  sermons,  and  thinking, 
with  his  pen  in  his  hand,  on  subjects  of  theology  or 
passages  of  Scripture,  thirteen  hours  daily.  When  he 
went  abroad,  as  he  did  on  horseback,  for  exercise,  he 
had  some  special  topic  selected  for  his  meditations. 
If  thoughts  struck  him  during  his  rides  that  were 
of  peculiar  interest,  he  tried  to  detain  them  by  an 
artificial  method  of  pinning  papers  on  different  parts 
of  his  clothes  ;  and,  when  he  stopped  to  walk  in  the 
woods,  he  was  not  unprovided  with  pen  and  ink  to  give 
shape  to  whatever  might  occur  to  him  of  value.  In 
order  to  be  able  to  lead  such  a  life  of  constant  study, 
he  needed,  in  accordance  with  his  earlier  resolutions, 
to  be  very  abstemious  in  the  use  of  food  ;  and  delicacy 


Edwards  Memorial.  45 

of  health  also  added  motives  in  the  same  direction. 
His  life  was  thus  one  of  constant  thQught,  with  little 
relaxation  or  recreation.  One  ministerial  duty  he  felt 
himself  unequal  to,  —  that  of  pastoral  visiting.  He 
seemed  to  himself  to  have  no  skill  for  ordinary  inter- 
course with  his  flock  ;  so  that  the  amount  of  time 
which  would  have  gone  to  the  account  of  this  duty, 
had  he  regarded  it  as  such,  was  devoted  to  the  inter- 
ests of  study.  Probably  his  natural  shyness,  and 
inaptness  for  familiar  intercourse  with  his  parish- 
ioners, would  have  always  been  an  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  free  and  useful  family  visitation,  with  however 
great  perseverance  he  might  have  continued  it ;  for  the 
habits  of  philosophic  thought  were  too  fixed  and  too 
deeply  founded  in  his  nature  to  be  shaken  off  He 
had  well  considered  his  talents  in  this  respect,  and 
inquired  what  his  duty  as  a  minister  demanded  of 
him.  Dr.  Hopkins,  his  pupil  and  close  friend,  speaks 
of  him  on  this  point  as  follows  :  "  He  did  not  nqglect 
visiting  from  house  to  house  because  he  did  not  look 
upon  it,  in  ordinary  cases,  to  be  an  important  part 
of  the  work  of  a  gospel  minister,  but  because  he 
supposed  that  ministers  should,  with  respect  to  this, 
consult  their  own  talents  and  circumstances,  and  visit 
more  or  less  according  to  the  degree  in  which  they 
could  hope  thereby  to  promote  the  great  ends  of  the 
ministry.  .  .  .  He  was  not  able  to  enter  into  a  free  con-- 
versation  with  every  person  he  met,  and  in  an  easy 
manner  turn  it  to  whatever  topic  he  pleased,  without 
the  help  of  others,  and,  it  may  be,  against  their 
inclinations.  He  therefore  found  that  his  visits  of 
this  kind  must  be,  to  a  great  degree,  unprofitable. 
And,  as  he  was  settled  in  a  large  parish,  it  would  have 


46  Edwards  Memorial. 

taken  up  a  great  part  of  his  time  to  visit  from  house 
to  house  ;  which  he  thought  he  could  spend  in  his 
study  to  much  more  valuable  purposes,  and  so  better 
promote  the  great  ends  of  his  ministry :  for  it  ap- 
peared to  him  that  he  could  do  the  greatest  good  to 
the  souls  of  men,  and  most  promote  the  cause  of 
Christ,  by  preaching  and  writing  and  conversing  with 
persons  under  religious  impressions  in  his  study; 
whither  he  encouraged  all  such  to  repair,  where  they 
might  be  sure,  in  ordinary  cases,  to  find  him,  and 
where  they  were  treated  with  all  desirable  tender- 
ness, kindness,  and  familiarity." 

These  words  of  Dr.  Hopkins  show  that  he  had 
carefully  considered  his  duty,  and  it  is  likely  that  he 
was  right  in  his  judgment  ;  but  he  ought  not  to  be 
quoted  as  a  rule  for  others,  since  his  own  justification 
of  himself  rests  on  his  special  inaptitudes.  But  the 
want  of  a  free  intercourse  with  his  people,  without 
doubt,  made  the  relation  between  him  and  them  more 
distant  and  less  affectionate.  We  cannot  help  be- 
lieving that  it  was  all  the  easier  for  them  to  separate 
from  him  when  the  time  of  alienation  came.  Nor 
could  his  sermons  have  failed  to  suffer  injury  from  the 
want  of  intimate  acquaintance  with  varying  phases 
of  parish  and  of  family  life. 

Let  us  now  view  him  for  a  moment  as  a  preacher. 
It  has  struck  us  as  something  quite  worthy  of  notice, 
that  while  his  followers,  who  were  the  great  lights 
of  New  England  in  the  two  next  generations,  were 
often  theological  and  metaphysical  preachers,  this 
man,  of  such  strong  tendencies  towards  logic  and 
philosophy,  should  be  remarkably  scriptural  in  his 
mode   of    sermonizing,  —  doctrinal,    it    is    true,   but 


Edwards  Memorial.  47 

biblical,  and  never  departing  from  a  mode  of  present- 
ing thought  which  was  the  right  one  for  reaching  the 
common  mind.  If  he  could  not  adapt  himself  to  the 
turns  of  familiar  conversation,  he  certainly  could,  in 
his  pulpit,  make  himself  apprehensible  by  all. 

His  sermons  (and  the  same  is  true  of  his  writings' 
in  general)  are  not  models  of  style,  but  rather  often 
inelegant,  and  wearisome  by  their  repetitions.  This 
fault  must  be  laid  at  the  door  of  the  writers  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  who  were  most  esteemed  in  New 
England,  and  of  the  college  education  ;  in  which,  style 
and  the  refinement  of  taste  seem  to  have  been  neg- 
lected. They  are  almost  devoid,  also,  of  enlivening 
illustrations ;  and  they  show  but  little  imaginative 
power.  But  Edwards  was  a  strong,  I  may  say  a 
mighty  preacher,  notwithstanding ;  and  his  power 
consisted,  first  of  all,  in  the  strength  of  his  convictions 
in  regard  to  spiritual  truth,  which  took  hold  of  his 
powerful  conceptive  faculty,  his  tender  sensibility,  and 
his  great  intellect,  making  him  always  earnest,  and 
bent  upon  the  great  end  of  preaching,  —  sometimes 
terrible,  and  sometimes  gravely  eloquent. 

His  preaching  was  blessed  ;  and  we  may  say,  that, 
during  his  ministry  at  Northampton,  that  place  was 
more  a  centre  of  spiritual  influence  than  any  other 
in  New  England.  The  revival  of  1734-35,  which  began 
here,  and  spread  over  a  number  of  towns  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut,  had  more  than  three  hun- 
dred persons  for  its  fruits  in  his  parish.  The  rem.arka- 
ble  character  of  this  movement,  as  well  as  its  novelty, 
awoke  inquiry  in  regard  to  its  nature  and  its  particu- 
lars. To  answer  such  inquiry,  he  wrote  first  a  brief, 
and  afterwards  a  fuller  account  ;  which  last  was  pub- 


48  Edivards  Memorial. 

lished  at  London,  in  1736,  under  the  title  of  "Narra- 
tive of  Surprising  Conversions,"  and  a^'ain,  the  year 
after,  at  Boston,  together  with  several  discourses  on 
practical  subjects,  chiefly  preached  during  the  re- 
vival. Of  these,  the  discourse  on  Justification,  made 
out  of  several  sermons,  formed  a  treatise  of  itself 
The  "Narrative"  just  spoken  of  was  the  first  work 
which  made  Edwards  extensively  known  both  in  and 
beyond  the  bounds  of  New  England.  He  began  to 
be  regarded  as  a  favored  instrument  of  God  and  as  a 
man  of  power.  Young  men,  ere  long,  such  as  Bellamy 
and  Hopkins,  looked  to  him  as  a  guide  in  their  stud- 
ies, or  a  counsellor  in  their  parish-work ;  and  by 
degrees  he  became  the  centre  of  new  thoughts  and 
new  practical  efforts. 

The  next  great  work  in  which  he  was  called  to  have 
an  important  part  was  the  Great  Revival  —  to  give 
it  the  name  by  which  it  is  known  in  New-England 
history  —  of  1740-42  ;  which  pervaded  all  the  northern 
Colonies,  showing  its  power  in  more  than  a  hundred 
and  fifty  congregations.  In  this  widely-extended 
series  of  religious  awakenings  George  Whitefield  was 
a  principal  instrument.  The  awakening  began  at 
Northampton  in  the  spring  of  1740  ;  and  was  increased, 
after  Whitefield  had  preached  several  sermons  there,  in 
the  autumn  of  the  same  year.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
Edwards  "withstood  him  to  his  face"  on  account 
of  his  rashness  in  speaking  of  other  professed  Chris- 
tians, especially  of  ministers,  as  in  an  unconverted 
state,  and  of  his  practice  of  attributing  importance  to 
impulses  as  proceeding  from  the  Spirit  of  God.  The 
followers  of  Whitefield  went  far  beyond  their  master 
in  the  heat  of  their  zeal  and  their  want  of  judgment. 


Edwards  Memorial.  49 

It  is  well  known  that  the  evils  which  attended  this 
revival  marred  its  beauty,  and  weakened  its  happy  in- 
fluence. It  was,  says  Edwards,  no  uncommon  thing 
"to  see  a  house  lull  of  outcries,  faintings,  convul- 
sions, and  such  like,  both  with  distress  and  [also]  wi'Ji 
admiration  and  joy."*  It  was  at  Northampton  much 
more  pure  in  1740  and  1741  than  the  former  work 
of  1734-35,  at  first  ;  but  in  1742  "we  were  infected," 
he  says,  "from  abroad.  Our  people  hearing  of,  and 
some  of  them  seeing,  the  work  in  other  places,  where 
there  was  a  greater  visible  commotion  than  here,  and 
the  outward  appearances  were  more  extraordinary, 
were  ready  to  think  the  work  in  those  places  far  ex- 
celled what  was  amongst  us  ;  and  their  eyes  were 
dazzled  with  the  high  profession  and  great  show  that 
some  made  who  came  hither  from  other  places." 
"  Formerly,"  he  says  in  another  place,  "  there 
was  too  great  reservedness  in  talking  of  religious 
experiences  ;  but  of  late  many  have  gone  to  an  un- 
bounded openness,  frequency,  and  constancy  in  talk- 
ing of  their  experiences,  declaring  almost  every  thing 
that  passes  between  God  and  their  own  souls  every- 
where and  before  everybody.  Religion  all  runs  into 
that  channel :  other  duties,  that  are  of  vastly  greater 
importance,  have  been  looked  on  as  light  in  compari- 
son with  this  ;  so  that  other  parts  of  religion  have 
been  really  much  injured  thereby."  Edwards  did  his 
best  to  counteract  among  his  people  this  prepon- 
derance of  unreflecting  emotion  over  thoughtful  god- 
liness. He  felt  the  danger  there  was  when  instances 
occurred  of  "  persons  lying  in  a  sort  of  trance,  remain- 

*  Dwight's   Edwards's  Works,   i.  162.      The   other  quotations   fol- 
low in  the  same  work. 
4 


50  Edwards  Memorial. 

ing,  perhaps,  for  a  whole  twenty-four  hours  motion- 
less, with  their  senses  locked  up,  but  in  the  mean 
time  under  strong  imaginations,  as  though  they  went 
to  heaven,  and  had  there  a  vision  of  glorious  and 
delightful  objects."  The  evil  was,  that,  "when  the 
people  were  raised  to  this  height,  Satan  took  the 
advantage  ;  and  his  interposition  in  many  instances 
soon  became  very  apparent  ;  and  a  great  deal  of  cau- 
tion and  pains  were  found  necessary  to  keep  the  peo- 
ple, many  of  them,  from  becoming  wild." 

One  measure  taken  by  Edwards  to  counteract  this 
dangerous  tendency  was  to  draw  the  minds  of  his 
flock,  by  means  of  a  solemn  covenant,  to  the  great 
precepts  of  Christian  morality,  especially  in  the  inter- 
course of  life.  By  this  he  hoped  to  lead  their  minds 
to  the  contemplation  of  positive  duty,  that  the  prac- 
tical aims  of  the  gospel  might  take  their  proper  place 
amid  the  luxurious  pleasures  of  overwrought  feeling. 

If  this  revival  had  evil  mingled  with  its  good  when 
so  doctrinal  a  minister  as  Edwards  controlled  the 
community,  in  many  other  parts  the  evil  was  more 
apparent.  The  radical  evil  was  misjudging  zeal  taking 
the  occasional  adjuncts  of  religion  for  religion  itself; 
condemning  with  bitterness  those  who  did  not  adopt 
its  measures,  and  thus  converting  them  into  opponents 
of  a  work,  which,  in  its  essential  features,  was  from 
God.  Ministers  like  Davenport,  who  took  Whitefield 
for  their  model,  intruded  into  parishes  against  the 
will  of  the  ministers,  pronounced  them  unconverted, 
and  took  steps  which  led  to  the  separation  of  parts 
of  churches  from  their  ministers  and  from  the  old 
parishes :  so  that,  perhaps,  more  than  tiveiity  such 
churches  of  separatists  were  formed  in  Connecticut 


Edwards  Memorial.  51 

alone.  This  led  to  angry  divisions,  and  the  arm 
of  the  law  interfered  to  put  down  the  new  exercise 
of  religious  liberty.  But  the  evil  done  to  religion  was 
not  confined  to  these  outward  phenomena.  The  stan- 
dard of  religion,  the  conception  of  what  it  consisted 
in,  was  modified.  Feeling,  rather  than  a  life  of  piety 
and  obedience,  was  the  point  of  desirable  attainment. 
Hence,  when  feeling  became  exhausted,  godliness 
seemed  to  die  also.  Hence,  also,  censorious  judg- 
ments that  others  were  unconverted,  and  the  disposi- 
tion to  follow  inward  impulses  as  the  rule  of  duty. 
Hence,  finally,  in  many  places,  a  lasting  prejudice 
against  revivals  of  religion.  One  who,  were  he  living, 
would  be  the  fittest  person  to  make  the  address 
assigned  to  me,  —  Dr.  Sereno  Edwards  Dwight, — 
says  that  "  it  is  deserving,  perhaps,  of  inquiry, 
whether  the  slumber  of  the  American  Church  for 
nearly  seventy  years  may  not  be  ascribed,  in  an 
important  degree,  to  the  fatal  re-action  of  [the]  un- 
happy measures"  adopted  in  this  revival. 

I  have  dwelt  the  longer  on  this  revival  and  its  pecu- 
liarities because  they  called  forth  the  analyzing  power 
of  Edwards's  mind,  so  that  he  became,  for  the  Church 
of  the  succeeding  generations,  the  religious  critic  — 
using  these  words  in  a  good  and  a  high  sense  —  of  the 
movements  in  which  God  and  the  human  mind  con- 
spire. He  had  firm  faith  that  the  revival  was  a  work 
of  the  Divine  Spirit :  he  hoped  that  otKer  and  purer 
ones  would  follow,  until  the  millennial  glory  should 
begin.  But  he  believed  that  the  preaching  of  the 
sober  truth,  the  great  realities  of  the  Scriptures  pre- 
sented to  reflecting  minds,  were  the  instruments 
of  conversion.       He  felt  also,  perhaps   too  strongly, 


52  Edwards  Memorial. 

that  almost  all  the  steps  of  conversion  could  be  coun- 
terfeited, for  which  the  only  cure  within  man's  reach 
was  the  application  of  the  most  scriptural  tests  for 
judging  of  Christian  character.  Views  like  these  led 
him  to  publish  in  1741  his  sermon  "On  the  Distin- 
guishing Marks  of  a  Work  of  the  True  Spirit ; "  in 
1742,  his  "Thoughts  on  the  Revival  of  Religion  in 
New  England  ;"  and,  in  1746,  his  treatise  "On  Reli- 
gious Affections."  The  high  position  which  these 
last-mentioned  works  soon  occupied,  and  their  exten- 
sive influence,  —  the  one  of  them  determining  the 
views  and  measures  of  New  England  in  respect  to 
religious  awakenings  in  a  spirit  at  once  devout  and 
scientific,  the  other  establishing  criteria  of  religious 
character  as  scriptural  as  they  are  severe,  —  will  ex- 
cuse me  from  praise  and  criticism.  I  cannot,  how- 
ever, forbear  saying,  that  the  work  on  religious  aftec- 
tions,  by  the  introspection  and  analysis  which  it  en- 
courages, notwithstanding  its  great  merits,  has  been 
the  source  of  great  evils :  it  has  led  minds  away  fror^ 
the  great  object  and  fountain  of  hope  to  a  scrutiny 
of  their  own  miserable  selves  ;  and  thus  has,  in  many 
cases,  produced  self-distrust  and  despondency,  instead 
of  hope  and  peace. 

From  the  termination  of  the  "  great  revival "  until 
the  close  of  the  ministry  of  Edwards  at  Northampton 
in  1750,  about  eight  years  elapsed,  in  which,  besides 
the  writings  which  we  have  just  spoken  of.  not  a 
little  occurred  in  his  life  that  is  worthy  of  notice. 
Our  limits,  however,  do  not  allow  us  to  give  them 
more  than  a  j^assing  mention.  The  brief  career 
of  David  Brainerd,  who  had  been  befriended  by  him 
in   his  troubles  at   New  Haven  with  the  authorities 


Edwards  Memorial.  53 

of  the  college,  and  who  had  kept  up  an  intimacy  with 
him  from  that  time,  came  to  an  end  at  his  house  in 
1747 :  and  two  years  afterwards  he  gave  to  the  world 
the  well-known  and  much-read  Life  and  Diary  of  the 
Indian  missionary,  —  a  book  which,  notwithstanding  its 
sombre  coloring,  has  been  of  great  use  to  the  Christian 
world  ;  above  all,  in  stimulating  missionary  efforts. 
During  these  years,  also,  he  entered  with  zeal  into  a 
plan  communicated  to  him  by  his  friends  in  Scotland 
for  a  concert  of  prayer  among  all  Christians  for  "  the 
coming  of  Christ's  kingdom."  This  he  recommended 
to  his  people  from  the  pulpit,  and  afterwards  reduced 
his  sermons  into  the  form  of  a  treatise,  entitled  "  An 
Humble  Attempt  to  promote  Explicit  Agreement  and 
Visible  Union  among  God's  People,  in  Extraordinary 
Prayer  for  the  Revival  of  Religion  and  the  Advancement 
of  Christ's  Kingdom  on  Earth,  pursuant  to  Scripture 
Promises  and  Prophecies  concerning  the  Last  Time." 
This  treatise  was  published  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  was  a  principal  means  of  extending  such 
a  concert  through  a  large  number  of  churches.  His 
works  on  the  religious  revivals  brought  him  into 
correspondence  and  friendship  with  a  number  of  min- 
isters in  Scotland,  who  gave  him  the  glad  news  of  a 
similar  event  begun  in  their  own  country  in  1744. 
Of  these  Scotch  friends,  the  one  who  was  his  longest 
and  most  valued  correspondent,  but  who  was  not 
brought  into  relations  with  him  until  1747,  was  John 
Erskine,  first  of  Kirkintilloch,  then  of  Edinburgh.  In 
that  year,  while  yet  quite  a  young  man,  he  sent 
Edwards  a  memorial  of  a  fellow-student  in  theology 
who  had  died  before  entering  the  ministry.  In  ac- 
knowledging   that   gift,    Edwards,   according    to    the 


54  Edwards  Memorial. 

biographer  of  Erskine,  —  Sir  Henry  M.  Wallwood,  as 
quoted  by  Dr.  S.  E.  Dvvight, —  gave  a  sketch  of  a  work 
on  the  freedom  of  the  will  which  was  then  in  his 
mind.  "I  have  thought,"  he  says,  "of  writing  some- 
what particularly  and  largely  on  the  Arminian  con- 
troversy, in  distinct  discourses  on  the  various  points 
in  dispute,  to  be  published  successively,  beginning 
first  with  a  discourse  concerning  the  freedom  of  the 
will  and  moral  agency  ;  endeavoring  fully  and  thor- 
oughly to  state  and  discuss  those  points  of  liberty  and 
necessity,  moral  and  physical  inability,  efficacious 
grace,  and  the  ground  of  virtue  and  vice,  reward  and 
punishment,  blame  and  praise,  with  regard  to  the  dis- 
positions and  actions  of  reasonable  creatures."  Er- 
skine proved  to  be  a  truly  useful  and  helpful  friend 
by  the  supplies  of  new  books  in  theology  which  were 
coming  out  in  Europe,  and  which  he  could  have 
obtained  from  no  other  source.  He  held  Edwards  in 
the  highest  honor,  and,  long  after  his  death,  edited  a 
number  of  his  works  at  the  Scotch  capital. 

The  mention  of  Erskine  leads  me  to  sjieak  of 
another  work  which  Edwards  wrote  in  the  form 
of  sermons  a  little  before  the  great  revival,  and  which 
his  Scotch  friend  procured  to  be  printed  after  his 
death  from  a  manuscript  supplied  by  his  son.  The 
"  History  of  Redemption  "  to  which  I  refer  belongs  in 
its  present  form  to  the  year  1739;  but  the  preface  to 
the  work,  from  the  hand  of  the  younger  Pres.  Ed- 
wards, informs  us  that  he  had  meditated  something 
more  extensive  and  more  perfect.  The  son  says  that 
"he  had  planned  a  body  of  divinity  in  a  new  method, 
and  in  the  form  of  history,  in  which  he  was  first  to 
show  how  the   most  remarkable   events  in  all  ages, 


Edwards  Memorial.  55 

from  the  fall  to  the  present  times,  recorded  in  sacred 
and  profane  history,  were  adapted  to  promote  the 
work  of  redemption  ;  and  then  to  trace,  by  the  light 
of  Scripture  prophecy,  how  the  same  work  should  be 
yet  farther  carried  on,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world. 
His  heart  was  so  much  set  on  executing  this  plan, 
that  he  was  considerably  averse  to  accept[ing]  the 
presidentship  of  Princeton  College,  lest  the  duties  of 
that  office  should  put  it  out  of  his  power." 

I  do  not  claim  for  this  work  a  masterly  treatment 
of  history  ;  nor  would  I  accept  its  interpretations 
of  prophecy  without  qualification.  But  it  deserves  to 
be  called  a  remarkable  production  on  two  accounts : 
first,  it  shows  the  comprehensiveness  of  a  mind  which 
was  not  content  with  exploring  philosophical  and 
biblical  theology,  but  wandered  through  the  fields 
of  history  to  gather  up  marks  of  the  presence 
of  God  among  mankind  ;  and,  second,  it  is  founded 
on  the  truly  great  thought,  that  the  unity  of  mankind 
is  to  be  sought  for  in  Christ.  It  is  thus  a  work  built 
on  a  grand  foundation,  and  belongs  to  the  class 
of  which  Augustine's  treatise  "  On  the  City  of  God  " 
affords  the  earliest  and  the  noblest  specimen. 

We  have  now  reached  that  more  than  a  year  of 
painful  controversy  with  his  parish,  —  that  one  great 
trial  of  his  life,  which  ended  in  an  event  then  much 
rarer  than  it  is  now,  —  his  separation  from  an  alienated 
people  by  their  own  persistent  measures.  The  docu- 
ments touching  this  chapter  of  his  life  are  copious  : 
they  are  a  broad  if  not  a  smooth  stream,  over  which 
it  becomes  us  to  wade  with  as  dry  feet  as  possible. 
The  point  at  issue  between  the  parties  was  one 
of  direct  and  instant  application  to  the  practice  of  the 


56  Edwards  Memorial. 

church.  It  was,  whether,  as  had  been  the  usage  for 
years  in  the  parish,  new  members  should  be  received 
without  any  evidence  of  Christian  character  ;  or  whe- 
ther the  rule  should  be  altered,  and  no  one  received 
who  could  not  be  regarded  as  a  follower  of  Christ.  A 
picparation  for  such  a  state  of  things  lay  in  the  loose- 
ness of  some  church-members  admitted  on  such  a 
platform.  T'-^o.  parlies  were  Edwards  with  a  minority 
of  the  most  religious  of  his  people,  and  most  of  the 
leading  persons  in  the  town  with  a  majority  under 
their  control.  The  facilitating  causes,  probably,  were 
his  reserve,  and  neglect  of  familiar  intercourse  with  his 
parish,  of  which  we  have  spoken  before  ;  his  powerful 
understanding,  which  made  men  important  in  the 
State  feel  themselves  his  inferiors  ;  the  natural  love  of 
slack  discipline  which  many  feel,  and  the  prejudices 
of  theology  which  were  kindled  by  ministers  outside 
of  the  town,  together  with  the  ill-will  aroused  by 
rebukes  of  the  conduct  of  members  of  important  fami- 
lies. His  opponents  had  an  advantage  in  this,  that 
the  existing  practice  had  come  down  from  the  vener- 
ated grandfather  of  Edwards,  who  had  held  the  pas- 
torate for  sixty  years  ;  that  he  had  accepted  the  prac- 
tice, nor  said  a  word  against  it  for  a  long  time  ;  and 
that  the  churches  all  around  in  the  Commonwealth 
had  adopted  it,  as  well  as  a  large  number  in  other 
colonies.  Tlicy  were  strong  in  reliance  on  usage  :  Jic 
was  weak  in  having  changed  or  slowly  settled  his 
mind  on  an  important  practical  subject.  Their  over- 
bearing sense  of  strength  led  them  to  an  extreme 
ground,  even  when  he  had  only  avowed  and  preached 
his  opinion.  It  was  felt,  in  fact,  to  be  a  point  on 
which  there  could  be   no   compromise :    he    or  they 


Edwards  Memorial.  57 

must  yield.  He  bravely  stood  his  ground.  Yet  no 
honest  partisan  of  the  other  side  could  fairly  charge 
him  with  obstinacy  or  violence.  No  one  could  doubt 
that  he  went  through  the  long  series  of  painful  con- 
troversies in  uprightness  and  honesty.  He  came  out 
of  them  the  loser,  yet  the  winner.  Posterity  is  on  his 
side.  Had  he  flattered  and  yielded,  the  opinion  of 
New  England  would  have  rebuked  him,  and  genera- 
tions of  descendants,  and  of  minds  led  by  him  up  to 
God,  would  not  have  blessed  his  memory.  And 
doubtless  his  own  spiritual  life  needed  and  was  blessed 
by  the  bitter  lesson. 

When  Edwards  was  settled  at  Northampton,  this 
practice,  introduced  by  the  influence  of  his  grand- 
father, had  prevailed  more  than  twenty  years.  At  the 
time  of  his  settlement,  he  had,  according  to  Dr.  Hop- 
kins, some  scruples  about  the  practice,  but  did  not, 
for  some  time,  "  receive  such  a  degree  of  conviction 
as  to  prevent  his  adopting  it  with  a  good  conscience." 
"At  length  his  doubts  increased,"  for  which  his  ex- 
perience as  a  minister  will  readily  suggest  one  reason  ; 
and  he  was  led  to  examine  the  question  with  thor- 
oughness "  by  searching  the  Scriptures,  and  reading 
such  books  as  were  written  on  the  subject."  The 
result  was  a  full  conviction  that  it  was  wrong,  and  that 
he  could  not  retain  the  practice  with  a  good  con- 
science. His  treatise  "  On  Religious  Affections," 
published  in  1746,  shows  that  his  mind  was  then 
already  made  up  on  the  subject.  He  had,  however, 
no  occasion  to  publish  his  convictions  for  some  time 
afterward,  as  no  case  involving  the  principle  occurred 
until  the  end  of  1748  and  the  beginning  of  the  next 
year.     He  then  declared  his  views  to  the  committee 


58  lidzuards  Memorial. 

of  the  church,  and  proposed  to  them  to  give  his 
reasons  from  the  pulpit.  This  was  unacceptable  to 
the  major  part  of  the  committee  ;  but  it  was  agreed 
that  he  should  justify  his  opinions  through  th6  press. 
The  printing  was  not  finished  until  August.  Mean- 
while there  was  a  great  ferment  in  the  town  ;  and,  to 
show  what  he  regarded  as  the  probable  end  of 
the  difficulty,  we  repeat  here  a  few  words  from  a 
letter  to  his  Scotch  friend  Erskine,  written  in  this 
interval,  under  date  of  May,  1749:  "I  have  nothing 
very  comfortable  to  inform  you  of  concerning  the 
present  state  of  religion  in  this  place.  A  very  great 
difficulty  has  arisen  between  [me  and]  my  people 
relating  to  qualifications  for  communion  at  the  Lord's 
table.  My  honored  grandfather  Stoddard,  my  prede- 
cessor in  the  ministry  over  this  church,  strenuously 
maintained  the  Lord's  Supper  to  be  a  converting 
ordinance  ;  and  urged  all  to  come  who  were  not  of 
scandalous  life,  though  they  knew  themselves  to  be 
unconverted.  I  formerly  conformed  to  his  practice : 
but  I  have  had  difficulties  with  respect  to  it,  which 
have  been  long  increasing,  till  I  dared  no  longer  to 
proceed  in  this  way ;  which  has  occasioned  great 
uneasiness  among  my  people,  and  has  filled  all  the 
country  with  noise  ;  which  has  obliged  me  to  write 
something  upon  the  subject,  which  is  now  in  the 
press.  I  know  not  but  this  affair  will  issue  in  a  sepa- 
ration between  me  and  my  people." 

His  own  position  against  this  practice,  introduced 
into  the  church  by  his  grandfather,  would  now  be 
regarded  as  a  very  moderate  one.  He  did  not  even 
demand  that  the  applicant  for  communion  should 
think  himself  to  be  a  true  Christian,  but  only  looked 


Edzvards  Memorial.  59 

for  those  affections  and  that  faith  which  would  lead 
the  person  or  persons  responsible  for  admission  into 
the  church  to  believe  him  to  be  such.  There  might 
be  persons  of  sincere  piety,  who,  for  some  reason,  had 
not,  as  yet,  a  Christian  hope :  he  would  not  exclude 
such,  but  only  those  who  made  no  pretensions  to,  and 
gave  no  evidence  of,  a  religious  character.  He  says 
that  a  person  making  a  profession  willingly  to  comply 
with  the  commandments  of  God  requiring  the  service 
of  his  soul  and  body  ought  to  be  received  to  the  com- 
munion, and  had  a  right  to  be  [so]  received  as  an 
object  of  public  charity,  whatever  scruples  he  might 
have  from  not  knowing  the  time  or  method  of  his 
conversion,  or  from  finding  in  himself  great  remain- 
ing sin. 

It  would  be  an  unprofitable  task  to  dwell  upon  the 
stages  through  which  the  controversy  passed  until  a 
preparatory  council  was  called  to  consider  whether 
a  final  council  should  be  convoked  from  the  county 
only,  or  from  churches  both  within  it  and  beyond  its 
borders.  Edwards  was  earnest  and  persistent  for  the 
latter  course,  well  knowing  what  he  had  to  expect 
from  a  number  of  the  neighboring  ministers  and 
churches.  At  last,  it  was  agreed  that  he  should  nomi- 
nate two  churches  to  be  upjn  the  council  which  were 
not  within  the  bounds  of  the  county.  The  council 
met  June  19,  1850,  chosen  in  equal  numbers  by  the 
two  parties,  and  with  power,  if  they  should  "judge  it 
best  that  pastor  and  people  be  immediately  separated, 
to  dissolve  the  connection  between  them."  The  coun- 
cil, by  a  majority  of  one,  —  one  of  Mr.  Edwards's 
nominees  did  not  appear,  —  passed  the  following 
vote :  "  That  it  is  expedient  that  the  pastoral  relation 


6o  Edwards  Memorial. 

between  Mr.  Edwards  and  his  church  be  immediately 
dissolved,  if  the  people  still  persist  in  desiring  it." 
When  the  vote  was  put  in  the  church,  the  great 
majority  of  those  who  were  present  —  out  of  two 
hundred  and  thirty,  all  but  twenty-three  —  voted  for 
tlie  dismission.  The  acts  of  the  council  were  read  at 
a  public  meeting  of  the  parish  on  the  22d  of  June  ;  and, 
soon  after,  Edwards  delivered  his  farewell  sermon.* 

In  all  these  proceedings  Edwards  was  calm  and 
meek,  but  persistent,  and  bent  on  justice.  It  must 
have  been  obvious  to  him,  months  before  the  issue, 
that  the  breach  could  not  be  healed  ;  and  we  doubt 

*  In  this  sermon  (D wight's  edition  of  Edwards's  Works,  i.  642)  he 
uses  the  following  language  :  "  Then  "  (i.e.,  in  the  day  of  account)  "  it  will 
appear  whether  I  acted  uprightly,  and  Irom  a  truly  conscientious,  care- 
ful regard  to  my  duty  to  my  great  Lord  and  Master,  in  some  former 
ecclesiastical  controversies,  which  have  been  attended  with  exceeding 
unhappy  circumstances  and  consequences  :  it  will  appear  whether  there 
was  any  just  cause  for  the  resentment  which  was  manifest  on  these  oc- 
casions. And  then  our  late  grand  controversy,  concerning  the  qualifi- 
cations necessary  for  admission  to  the  privileges  of  members  in  com- 
jDlete  standing  in  the  visible  Church  of  Christ,  will  be  examined  and 
judged  in  all  its  parts  and  circumstances,  and  the  whole  set  forth  in  a 
clear,  certain,  and  perfect  light.  .  .  .  And  then  it  will  appear,  whether,  in 
declaring  this  doctrine,  and  acting  agreeably  to  it,  and  in  my  general 
conduct  in  this  affair,  I  have  been  influenced  from  any  regard  to  my 
temporal  interest  or  honor,  or  any  desire  to  appear  wiser  than  others  ; 
or  have  acted  from  any  sinister,  secular  view  whatsoever  ;  and  whether 
what  I  have  done  has  not  been  from  a  careful,  strict,  and  tender  regard 
to  the  will  of  my  Lord  and  Master,  and  because  I  dare  not  offend  him, 
being  satisfied  what  his  will  was,  after  a  long,  diligent,  impartial,  and 
careful  incjuiry  ;  having  tliis  constantly  in  view  and  prospect  to  en- 
gage me  to  great  solicitude  not  rashly  to  determine  truth  to  be  on 
this  side  of  the  question,  where  I  am  now  persuaded  it  is,  —  that  such 
a  determination  would  not  be  for  my  temporal  interest,  but  every  way 
against  it,  bringing  me  a  long  series  of  extreme  difiiculties,  and  plun- 
ging me  into  an  abyss  of  trouble  and  sorrow."  A  noble  ii]irightness 
and  self-approval  runs  through  all  this. 


Edwards  Memorial.  6i 

whether  the  wiser  course  would  not  have  been  to 
shorten  the  term  of  controversy  by  early  resignation. 
Among  the  opponents  of  the  minister,  the  leading 
manager  before  the  council  was  his  own  cousin,  Joseph 
Hawley,  a  grandson  of  Stoddard.  Ten  years  after- 
wards, this  man,  a  lawyer  of  high  standing,  published 
a  letter  in  a  Boston  paper,  in  which  he  humbled  him- 
self for  his  animosity  and  hurry,  for  his  disrespect  to 
the  council,  and  his  injustice  towards  his  pastor. 
Edwards  was  now  dead  :  but  he  says  that  he  made  the 
substance  of  the  same  confessions  to  him  in  writing: 
before  he  (Edwards)  left  Stockbridge  ;  and  that  Ed- 
wards, from  his  great  candor  and  charity,  forgave  him, 
and  prayed  for  him  ;  yet,  because  this  was  not  gener- 
ally known,  he  looked  on  himself  as  obliged  to  take 
further  steps.  Therefore,  for  all  these  his  great  sins, 
he  humbly  and  earnestly  asked  forgiveness  of  God,  and 
of  the  relatives  and  near  friends  of  Edwards,  of  his 
adherents,  of  the  council,  and  of  all  Christian  people 
to  whom  the  transactions  were  known. 

This  is  testimony  of  the  first  quality  for  the  sub- 
stantial righteousness  of  Edwards's  cause.  And  this, 
so  far  as  we  know,  is  the  (?nly  repentance  that  came 
from  the  people  of  Northampton.  A  bitter  memory 
was  left  there  until  these  things  were  forgotten. 

His  treatise  "  On  the  Qualifications  for  Full  Com- 
munion in  the  Visible  Church,"  which  was  published 
during  the  controversy  in  1749,  was  a  work  of  great 
practical  value.  It  changed  by  slow  degrees  the 
ooinions  of  the  ministers  of  New  England,  until  the 
practice  which  unsettled  Edwards  fell  entirely  into 
disuse  Afterwards,  in  1752,  another  writing  of  his 
on  the  same  subject  was  published,  in   reply  to  the 


62  Edivards  Memorial. 

Rev.  Solomon  Williams,  who  had  undertaken  to  defend 
in  print  the  half-way  covenant. 

After  this  dismission,  Edwards  remained  a  few 
months  in  Northampton  ;  and  while  the  larger  part 
of  the  people  were  unwilling  that  he  should  preach  for 
them,  and  preferred  having  no  preaching  at  all  to  his 
occupying  the  pulpit,  a  few  wished  him  to  remain  and 
gather  a  separate  congregation.  This,  by  the  advice 
of  a  council  of  ministers,  he  was  led  to  negative  ;  and 
his  views  were  ere  long  turned  to  another  quarter  by 
a  proposition  from  the  people  of  Stockbridge  that  he 
should  become  their  minister,  and  by  an  offer,  from 
the  commissioners  at  Boston  of  the  "  Society  in  Lon- 
don for  propagating  the  Gospel  in  New  England  and 
the  Parts  Adjacent,"  of  the  appointment  of  missionary 
to  the  Pfousatonic  Indians  who  were  settled  there 
and  in  the  neighborhood.  Having  spent  the  first 
months  of  1751  in  preaching  at  Stockbridge  both  to 
the  white  settlers,  and,  through  an  interpreter,  to  the 
Indians,  he  returned  to  his  family  at  Northampton, 
and  soon  afterwards  decided  to  remove  to  his  new 
field.  This  was  effected  in  August,  175  I.  One  of  the 
chief  movers  in  these  new  arrangements  seems  to  have 
been  Samuel  Hopkins,  his  friend  and  scholar,  then 
settled  at  what  is  now  Great  Barrington.  The  salary 
of  Edwards  was  to  be  drawn  from  three  sources,  —  the 
contributions  of  the  people,  the  money  coming  from 
the  Society  for  propagating  the  Gospel,  and  an  addi- 
tional sum  devoted  to  the  benefit  of  the  Indians  by 
the  legislature  of  the  Colony.  The  amount  derived 
from  the  people  was  (probably  in  sterling  value)  61. 
\},s.  Atd.,  besides  2/.  for  wood,  —  a  very  small  sum,  no 
doubt.     But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  settle- 


Edwards  Memorial.  63 

ment  was  in  its  infancy,  on  the  frontiers  of  civiliza- 
tion, at  a  distance  from  the  market.*  Edwards  had 
left  the  largest  salary  paid  by  any  New-England  inland 
parish,  from  which  he  had  saved  enough  to  procure  a 
homestead  and  build  a  house.  As  this  property  could 
not  be  turned  into  money  all  at  once,  his  family  was 
considerably  embarrassed  for  a  time  in  regard  to  the 
means  of  support.  He  tells  his  father,  in  a  letter 
written  not  long  after  his  removal,  that  he  was  then, 
on  account  of  the  removal  and  of  giving  an  outfit  to 
two  recently-married  daughters,  about  two  thousand 
pounds  of  provincial  money  in  debt ;  that  is,  perhaps, 
not  far  from  thirty-five  hundred  dollars.  The  neces- 
sity of  extreme  economy  at  this  time  appears  in  the 
daughters  of  the  family  making  embroidery  and  other 
articles  of  ornament  for  sale  at  Boston,  and  in  his  own 
use  for  his  private  writings  of  every  scrap  of  paper 
which  he  could  save. 

The  mission  among  the  Housatonic,  River,  or 
Stockbridge  Indians,  seems  to  have  been  first  thought 
of  in  a  practical  way  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins 
of  Springfield  (that  is,  now  West  Springfield),  a  broth- 
er-in-law of  Edwards.  In  1734,  Oct.  13,  John  Ser- 
geant, then  a  tutor  in  Yale  College,  preached  to  the 
Indians  in  Housatonnuck  for  the  first  time  ;  and  Mr. 
Timothy  Woodbridge  of  Springfield  began  soon  after 
to  take  care  of  the  Indian  school,  —  a  work  to  which  he 
devoted  himself  with  energy  and  success  during  Ser- 
geant's life,  and  Edwards's  stay  in  Stockbridge,  to 
whom  he  showed  himself  a  most  trusty  and  helpful 
friend.      Mr.    Sergeant    was    ordained    and    regularly 

*  Miss  Jones's  History  of  StockbridLje,  p.  156. 


64  Edwards  Manorial. 

intrusted  with  the  mission  the  next  year.  The  re- 
moval of  the  mission  to  Stockbridge  was  a  Httle 
subsequent. 

Mr.  Sergeant  learned  the  Indian  language  so  as  to 
use  it  with  a  moderate  degree  of  fluency  and  correct- 
ness. The  results  of  his  work  are  thus  summed  vp 
by  Samuel  Hopkins  of  West  Springfield,  in  his  his- 
torical memoirs  of  the  mission  :  *'  "  I  cannot  think  that 
any  judicious  person,  upon  mature  consideration,  will 
judge  [that]  that  which  has  been  brought  to  pass  by 
Mr.  Sergeant's  ministry  among  the  Indians  is  small 
and  inconsiderable.  In  the  year  1734,  when  he  first 
went  to  those  Indians,  their  number,  great  and  small, 
was  short  of  fifty,  and  they  fwere]  in  the  depths  of 
barbarity.  In  the  year  1749,  when  he  died,  they  were 
increased  to  two  hundred  and  eighteen.  One  hundred 
and  eighty-two  Indians  had  been  baptized  by  him,  and 
a  church  consisting  of  forty-two  Indian  communicants 
commemorated  the  sufferings  of  Christ  at  the  Lord's 
table.  Mr.  Woodbridge's  school  (separate  from  the 
boarding-school)  had  belonging  to  it  fifty-five  schol- 
ars, who  were  taught  to  read  and  write,  and  were 
instructed  in  the  principles  of  religion.  We,  in  this 
part  of  the  country,  have  seen  nothing  like  it  respect- 
ing the  poor  natives  who  live  upon  our  borders.  And 
if  Mr.  Sergeant's  life  had  been  spared  to  have  prose- 
cuted the  affair  of  the  boarding-school  according  to  his 
intention,  and  with  his  wonted  wisdom,  prudence,  and 
skill,  is  it  not  highly  probable  that  we  should  by  this 
time  have  seen  a  considerable  number  of  the  Indian 
youth  educated  there  in  labor,  industry,  and  good  hus- 

*  The  preface  is  dated  at  Springfield  in  1752,  while  his  brother-in- 
law  Edwards  was  in  Sergeant's  place. 


Edivards  Memorial.  65 

bandry,  as  well  as  in  learning,  who  probably  might 
have  proved  not  only  useful  members  of  society,  but 
also  of  the  Church  of  Christ  ?  " 

The  boarding-school  spoken  of  in  this  passage  was 
one  projected  by  the  Rev.  Isaac  Hollis  of  London  in 
1736,  and  actually  begun  in  1738  on  the  scale  of  a 
support  for  twelve  boys.  The  fortunes  of  this  school 
were  various.  For  a  while,  the  scholars  were  instructed 
in  Connecticut  by  a  man  who  had  acquired,  during  a 
captivity  among  the  Mohawks,  some  knowledge  of 
their  language.  Then  the  instructor  removed  to 
Stockbridge,  where  a  schoolhouse  was  put  up  under 
Mr.  Sergeant's  directions.  Near  the  close  of  his  life, 
the  missionary  intended  to  go  into  the  country  of  the 
Six  Nations  for  the  purpose  of  persuading  them  to  send 
their  children  to  the  boarding-school.  This  was  done 
after  his  death,  when  Edwards  was  placed  in  charge 
of  the  mission.  Some  twenty  came  at  first ;  then 
others  joined  them,  until  the  number  arose  to  ninety. 
The  native  Indians  offered  a  portion  of  their  lands  to 
settlers  from,  the  Mohawk  country  :  few,  however,  were 
ready  to  leave  their  homes.  The  instructor,  who  was 
an  uneducated  and  incompetent  man,  was  removed  ; 
and  a  young  man  of  college-training,  afterwards  set 
apart  for  the  missionary-work,  was  put  in  his  place. 
He  subsequently  left  Stockbridge  for  a  mission  among 
the  Onoquaugahs  under  the  direction  of  the  commis- 
sioners, and  the  boarding-school  dwindled  away.  A 
third  school,  for  female  Indian  children, .projected  by 
benevolent  persons  in  London,  was  never,  I  believe, 
actually  set  up. 

The  success  of  the  missions  during  the  few  years 
of  the  ministry  of  Edwards  at  Stockbridge  was  small. 


66  Edwards  Meviorial. 

This  was  due  partly  to  the  nature  of  the  work  ;  partly 
to  the  war  between  Great  Britain  and  France,  which 
excited  and  disaffected  the  savages  all  over  the  land  ; 
partly  to  the  schemes  of  interested  persons,  which  he 
was  obliged  to  counteract,  but  which  alienated  the 
Indians,  and  put  repeated  obstacles  in  his  way.*  His 
duties,  besides  those  of  an  ordinary  parish-minister, 
consisted  in  preaching  to  the  Indians,  through  an 
interpreter,  once  a  week  to  the  Housa'.onics,  and  once 
to  the  Mohawks,  and  in  catechising  their  children. 
Of  his  work  he  writes  thus  to  his  iriend  Erskine  in 
1755  :  "The  business  of  the  Indian  mission,  since  I 
have  been  here,  has  been  attended  with  strange  em- 
barrassments, such  as  I  never  could  have  expected  or 
even  dreamed  of,  —  coming  from  such  a  quarter,  that 
I  take  no  delight  in  being  very  particular  and  explicit 
upon  it."  He  then  adds  new  causes  of  anxiety  ;  as  the 
killing  of  an  Indian  in  the  woods  by  two  wayfarers  ; 
the  attack  of  certain  Canada  Indians  upon  the  settle- 
ment, and  their  slaughter  of  four  persons.  The  place 
needed,  in  fact,  the  presence  of  a  military  force  for  its 
defence.  At  this  time  Mr.  Havvley  was  among  the 
Six  Nations,  who  were  in  doubt  whether  to  adhere 
to  England  or  France.  "  It  seems  to  be  the  most 
critical  season,"  continues  Edwards,  "  v/ith  the  British 
dominions  in  America,  that  ever  was  seen  since  the 
first  settlement  of  these  colonies  ;  and  all,  probably, 
will  depend  on  the  warlike  transactions  of  the  present 
year."  But  it  was  not  until  four  years  afterwards  that 
Gen.  Wolfe  decided  the  fate  of  America,  and  estab- 
lished the  power  of  Great  Britain  on  the  North- 
American  continent. 

*  See  note  at  end  of  the  discourse. 


Edwards  Memorial.  67 

During  the  time  of  his  ministry  at  Stockbridge, 
Edv/ards  had  leisure  to  take  up  again  some  of  those 
lines  of  speculation  which  had  employed  many  of  his 
retired  hours,  and  from  which  the  controversy  at 
Northampton  had  diverted  him.  "  The  Treatise  on  the 
Will,"  which  he  commenced  in  August,  1752,  but  soon 
laid  aside  for  some  time  on  account  of  "extraordinary 
avocations  and  hinderances,"  was  taken  up  in  earnest 
in  the  November  following,  and  finished  in  the  first 
draft  by  or  before  April  14,  1753  ;  on  which  day  he 
writes  to  a  Scotch  friend  that  he  is  sending  the  pro- 
posals for  subscription  to  Boston  to  be  printed.  It 
was  published  early  in  1754.  After  an  illness  of  more 
than  six  months  from  chills  and  fever,  he  began  two 
others  of  his  speculative  treatises,  "  The  Dissertation 
concerning  the  End  for  which  God  created  the 
World,"  and  that  "Concerning  the  Nature  of  Virtue," 
which  were  not  given  to  the  public  until  long  after 
his  death.  In  1756,  he  must  have  composed  the 
greater  part  of  his  treatise  "  On  Original  Sin,"  the 
preface  to  which  bears  date  May  26,  1757,  and  which 
was  first  printed  in  1758. 

A  few  months  after  the  completion  of  this  fourth 
of  his  leading  essays  in  scientific  theology,  his  son-in- 
law,  Aaron  Burr,  president  of  the  college  in  New  Jer- 
sey, died  ;  and,  two  days  afterwards,  the  corporation 
of  the  college  elected  Edwards  to  be  the  president. 
His  reputation  justified  this  choice.  He  had  been 
brought  into  close  relations  long  before  with  ministers 
and  others  in  New  Jersey.  He  was  looked  upon  as  a 
champion  of  those  Calvinistic  views  from  which  the 
two  colleges  of  New  England  had  been  charged  with 
iiaving   swerved,    and    which   vverc   one  cause  of  the 


68  Edwards  Memorial. 

establishment  of  the  younger  college.  The  appoint- 
ment, however,  according  to  Hopkins,  —  an  excellent 
authority,  —  was  not  a  little  surprising.  Indeed,  we 
learn  the  same  from  that  remarkable  letter  of  Oct.  19, 
1757,  in  which  Edwards  gives  the  reasons  of  his  hesi- 
tation to  accept  the  oftcr,  and  wishes  for  time  to  take 
counsel  of  his  friends.  The  reasons  are,  first,  the 
inconveniences  and  losses  of  removing ;  next  the 
sense  of  his  unfitness  ;  and  then  the  studies  and  writ- 
ings which  he  had  set  his  heart  to  complete.  He. 
says  on  the  point  of  his  unfitness,  "  I  have  a  consti- 
tution in  many  respects  peculiarly  unhappy,  attended 
with  flaccid  solids,  vapid,  sizy,  and  scarce  fluids,  and 
a  low  tide  of  spirits,  often  occasioning  a  kind  of  child- 
ish weakness  and  contemptibleness  of  speech,  presence, 
and  demeanor,  with  a  disagreeable  dulness  and  stiff- 
ness, much  unfitting  me  for  conversation,  but  espe- 
cially for  the  government  of  a  college.  I  am  also 
deficient  in  some  parts  of  learning,  particularly  in 
algebra  and  the  higher  parts  of  mathematics,  and  in 
the  Greek  classics,  my  Greek  learning  having  been 
chiefly  in  the  New  Testament." 

Having  thus  analyzed  his  constitution  according  to 
an  exploded  medical  theory,  and  summed  up  his  amount 
of  academical  learning,  he  goes  on  to  speak  of  some- 
thing dear,  no  doubt,  to  his  heart,  and  entering  into  his 
view  of  his  very  life-work.  His  habit  had  ever  been, 
he  says,  to  think  with  his  pen  in  his  hand  ;  and  the 
more  he  thought  and  wrote,  the  more  and  wider  the 
field  opened.  He  desired  to  consider  in  writing  all 
those  other  main  points  between  the  Arminians  and 
Calvinists  on  which  he  had  not  already  published.  He 
had  on  his  mind  and  heart  a  great  work,  which  he 


Edwards  I\IanoriaL  69 

calls  a  "  History  of  the  Work  of  Redemption  centring 
in  Christ ;"  as  well  as  another  great  (i.e.,  large  or  long) 
work, — "A  Harmony  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments," in  which  the  prophecies,  the  types,  the  doc- 
trines and  precepts,  of  the  Jewish  economy  were  to  be 
considered  in  their  relations  to  the  new  dispensation. 
His  heart  is  so  much  in  these  studies,  he  says,  that 
he  could  not  consent  to  preclude  himself  from  pursu- 
ing them  further;  and,  if  he  should  "see  light  to  accept 
.the  place  offered  to  him,"  he  would  not  consider  it  in 
his  way  "  to  spend  time  in  constant  teaching  of  the 
languages,  except  the  Hebrew,  which  [he]  would  be 
willing  to  improve  himself  in  by  instructing  others." 

To  decide  the  question,  whether  he  ought  to  leave 
his  present  charge,  a  council  was  called  on  the  4th 
of  January,  1758  ;  and  the  opinion  was,  that  it  was  his 
duty  to  go  to  Princeton.  He  acquiesced,  but  not 
without  bursting  into  tears  when  he  heard  their  sen- 
tence, and  remarking  that  he  wondered  they  attached 
no  more  weight  to  his  objections.  He  resigned  his 
positions  of  minister,  and  superintendent  of  the  mis- 
sion, —  having  obtained  the  consent  of  his  people  and 
of  the  commissioners  in  Boston,  —  and  went  to  Nas- 
sau Hall,  leaving  his  family  at  Stockbridge  to  follow 
him  in  the  spring.  His  stay  there  and  on  earth  was 
short.  He  preached  in  the  college-hall,  and  gave  out 
some  questions  in  divinity  to  the  senior  class  ;  which 
they  answered,  and  then  received  his  remarks.  He- 
had  apparently  formed  no  settled  plans  for  the  future  ; 
when,  ill  consequence  of  the  appearance  of  the  small- 
pox at  Princeton,  he,  having  never  been  inoculated, 
proposed  to  submit  to  this  treatment,  if  the  physician 
should  advise  it,  and  the  corporation  give  their  con- 


70  Edwards  Memorial. 

sent.  He  was  accordingly  inoculated  on  the  13th 
of  February.  "  Although  he  had  the  small-pox  favora- 
bly,"—  we  quote  the  words  of  his  physician,  Dr.  Ship- 
pen,  —  "  yet,  having  a  number  of  them  in  the  roof  of 
his  mouth  and  throat,  he  could  not  possibly  swallow  a 
sufficient  quantity  of  drink  to  keep  off  a  secondary 
fever,  which  has  proved  too  strong  for  his  feeble 
frame  ;  and  this  afternoon  (March  22,  1758),  between 
two  and  three  o'clock,  it  pleased  God  to  let  him  sleep 
in  that  dear  Lord  Jesus  whose  kingdom  and  interest 
he  has  been  faithfully  and  painfully  serving  all  his 
life."  Two  daughters  were  with  him  in  Princeton. 
When  death  drew  nigh,  he  said  to  one  of  them,  "  It 
seems  to  me  to  be  the  will  of  God  that  I  must  shortly 
leave  you  :  therefore  give  my  kindest  love  to  my  dear 
wife,  and  tell  her  that  the  uncommon  union  which 
has  so  long  subsisted  between  us  has  been  of  such  a 
nature,  as,  I  trust,  is  spiritual,  and  therefore  will  con- 
tinue forever  ;  and  I  hope  she  will  be  supported  under 
so  great  a  trial,  and  submit  cheerfully  to  the  will  of 
God."  His  last  words  —  and  he  uttered  but  little  in 
his  illness  —  were  spoken  when  certain  persons  who 
looked  for  his  speedy  death  were  lamenting  the 
calamity  to  the  college:  they  were,  "Trust  in  God, 
and  ye  need  not  fear." 

His  death  was  preceded  a  few  days  by  that  of  his 
father,  in  his  eighty-ninth  year  ;  and,  about  a  fortnight 
afterwards,  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Burr,  followed  him,  — 
mother  of  that  ill-fated  man  whose  name  no  descend- 
dant  transmits,  —  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven.  His 
wife  reached  Princeton  the  next  autumn  in  order  to 
take  charge  of  Mrs.  Burr's  two  children  ;  and  went  on 
with  them   to  Philadelphia,  where  she  was  attacked 


Edivards  Memorial.  "ji 

with  a  dysentery  which  soon  proved  fatal.  She  was 
in  her  forty-ninth  year.  Pres.  Edwards  was  in  his 
fifty-fifth  year.  She  was  buried  in  Princeton  by  hei 
husband's  side. 

Thus,  at  an  age  when  neither  the  faculties  of  mind 
nor  the  power  of  doing  good  to  men  had  been  at  all 
abridged,  when  with  the  continuance  of  life  there  had 
been  promise  even  of  larger  things,  one  passed  away 
who  is  generally  reckoned  among  the  very  foremost 
divines  of  the  Protestant  churches,  and  who  certainly 
has  had  no  superior  in  America.  Of  his  theological 
opinions  I  shall  not  distinctively  speak  :  that  is  ex- 
pected to  fall  to  the  part  of  some  one  else  in  the 
present  gathering.  I  shall  have  fulfilled  what  I  con- 
ceive to  be  my  part  if  I  close  this  discourse  by  a  few 
brief  strokes,  setting  forlh  his  mind,  character,  and 
influence,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  penetrate  into 
them. 

And  this  regret  I  must  express  at  the  outset,  that 
so  few  minor  points  of  his  character  can  be  de- 
tected by  the  help  cf  his  life  or  of  his  letters.  The 
man  of  thirteen  or  fourteen  hours  of  daily  study,  who 
left  all  domestic  concerns  to  his  wife,  so  as,  according 
to  his  friend  Dr.  Hopkins,  not  even  to  know  "  how 
many  miik-kine  he  had  ; "  who  rarely  visited  his  peo- 
ple ;  who  was  absorbed  in  the  speculations  of  theology 
and  the  duties  of  the  ministry,  —  such  a  man  is  apt 
to  live  at  a  distance  from  us  :  "  he  [is]  a  separate  star, 
and  dwells  apart."  We  seek  for  something  specific- 
ally human  on  which  our  sympathies  can  fasten.  Wc 
should  rejoice  if  it  had  been  on  record,  that,  tired 
of  endless  thought,  he  read  the  English  poets  ;  or 
indulged  in  repartee,  and  did  not  disrelish  a  joke  ;  or 


72  Edwards  Memorial. 

was  all  alive  to  the  glories  of  the  sky  and  the  hills  ; 
or,  like  his  grandson  Pres.  Dwight,  loved  conversation, 
and  felt  an  interest  in  all  the  subjects  of  common 
life.  There  was  in  his  way  of  life,  we  fear,  too  much 
absorption  in  one  thing  for  healthy  development ;  too 
much  repression  of  natural  qualities  in  the  endeavor 
after  a  perfect  conformity  of  will  and  soul  to  the  will 
of  God.  Or,  at  least,  his  greatness  in  other  respects 
overshadowed  these  special  traits  to  the  view  of  those 
who  knew  him  best ;  and  they  are  lost  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  posterity.  Probably  the  first  was  true.  He 
and  others  among  the  best  Puritans  of  New  England 
succeeded  in  the  crowning  struggle  of  the  human 
soul  to  rise  above  earthly  things,  and  to  lead  a  spir- 
itual life  on  the  principles  of  Christ's  gospel.  But  as 
a  ship  in  a  storm  is  forced  to  throw  away  some  of  its 
less  essential  freight  in  order  to  save  the  more  pre- 
cious, so  they  sacrificed  what  is  akin  to  the  human 
for  converse  with  the  divine.  To  unite  the  two  is 
perfection  ;  and  so  they  reached  it  only  on  one  side. 

The  portrait  of  Pres.  Edwards  reveals  to  us,  I 
think,  clearness  of  intellect,  purity,  mildness,  and  the 
sway  of  the  idea.  He  was  over  six  feet  in  height, 
with  a  body  emaciated  by  study,  and  naturally  feeble, 
yet  capable  at  his  death  of  as  long-sustained  exertion 
as  he  was  in  his  youth.  He  seems  to  have  kept  up  his 
health  by  solitary  riding  ;  in  which,  however,  instead 
of  giving  himself  up  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  beauties 
of  Nature,  he  carried  with  him  his  pack  of  problems 
and  texts  for  the  food  of  his  soul.  He  was  no  ascetic 
in  his  habits  of  life  ;  yet  he  followed  the  rigid  purposes 
of  his  youth  in  his  rules  of  diet.  He  lived  hospitably, 
and  gave  freely. 


Edzuards  Manorial.  j^) 

No  one  will  doubt  that  a  large  measure  of  the  quali- 
ties of  clearness  and  penetration,  of  whatever  consti- 
tutes logical  power,  belonged  to  Pres.  Edwards.  On 
this  I  need  not  dwell  :  but  what  has  been  already 
noticed  is  less  obvious,  —  that  he  had  natively  the 
gift  of  observation  also  ;  that,  even  from  early  youth, 
he  could  watch  natural  objects,  collect  the  leading 
facts,  and  arrange  them  for  their  appropriate  infer- 
ences. 

Another  characteristic  of  his  mind,  as  it  strikes 
me,  was  a  tendency  toward  the  ideal.  He  had  a  high 
standard  in  all  things,  and  a  sense  of  spiritual  beauty, 
which  were  native  ornaments  of  his  religious  life. 
With  this  was  united  a  leaning  towards  the  mystical, 
slight  indeed,  and  in  a  manner  controlled  by  his  logic, 
but  enough  to  give  a  hue  to  his  mind,  which  modified 
the  rationalism  so  common  to  Calvinistic  theologians. 
His  sermon  "On  the  Reality  of  Spiritual  Light"  will 
illustrate  what  I  mean.  He  held  that  a  soul  is  initi- 
ated into  the  knowledge  of  God  by  an  interior  percep- 
tion answering  to  the  perceptions  of  the  senses.  He 
united  the  traits  of  Paul  and  John,  and  was  under  the 
sway  of  the  theologies  of  both  these  apostles. 

It  is  remarkable  how  comprehensive  his  mind  was, 
both  in  its  cravings  for  knowledge  until  he  confined 
himself  chiefly  to  divine  truth,  and,  in  its  demands 
after  his  ministry  began,  that  he  should  accomplish 
himself  as  a  theologian  at  every  point.  This,  of 
course,  his  high  standard  also,  and  his  sense  of  obli- 
gation, would  prompt  him  to  reach.  It  is  noteworthy, 
that  all  his  first  works  were  practical,  and  grew  out 
of  experience.  He  analyzed  revivals  ;  studied  their 
phenomena  ;  separated  what  is  from  man  in  them,  and 


74  Edzvards  Memorial. 

what  is  from  God.  He  saw  with  a  far-reaching  eye 
the  tendencies  of  the  wildness  and  fanaticism  in 
1740-42  ;  and  taught  the  Church  what  to  desire,  and 
what  to  fear.  He  felt  that  many  were  self-deceived  ; 
and  this  led  him  to  his  work  on  the  affections.  He 
tried  the  terms  of  communion  at  Northampton  ;  and, 
finding  them  wanting,  appealed  to  New  England  in 
favor  of  another  discipline."  When  a  missionary  at 
Stockbridge,  he  saw  all  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  suc- 
cess arising  from  the  methods  of  instruction  ;  watched 
the  French  intrigues  with  the  Indians,  and  guided 
the  views  of  men  abroad  and  at  home  into  the  best 
measures  for  Christianizing  the  sons  of  the  forest.  His 
•theology  again  shows  his  comprehensiveness  by  being 
biblical  as  well  as  metaphysical.  The  Bible  being  his 
foundation,  he  studied  it  intently,  and  wrote  those 
thoughts  on  the  types  of  the  Messiah  which  were  first 
published  about  forty  years  since.  But  his  "  History 
of  Redemption,"  of  which  we  have  spoken  before, 
shows,  more  than  any  of  his  works,  the  scope  of  his 
mind.  That  the  theologian  in  the  wilderness,  who 
had  few  if  any  good  guides  in  history,  should  not  only 
conceive  of  a  work  on  so  grand  a  plan,  but  regard  it 
as  of  such  importance  as  to  be  willing  to  decline  the 
most  honorable  calls  to  a  larger  field  of  usefulness, 
rather  than  leave  it  in  an  imperfect  state,  —  this,  I 
think,  will  lead  us  to  rate  the  largeness  of  his  mind  as 
high  as  his  logical  and  speculative  faculty. 

Of  the  traits  which  appeared  in  Pres.  Edwards's 
character,  we  have  already  said  that  they  seem  to  us 
to  unite  female  softness  with  masculine  vigor.  He 
was  shy,  desponding,  tender,  yet  positive  ;  strong  in 
his    convictions,    and    firm.     His    tenderness,  united 


Edwards  Alcniorial.  75 

with  gentleness  and  meekness,  appears  in  several 
passages  of  his  Hfe.  lie  speaks  of  "turns  of  weeping 
and  crying  for  his  sins"  (Dwight,  i.  134)  ;  he  wept,  as 
we  have  seen,  when  the  council  decided  that  his  duty 
was  to  go  to  Princeton  :  and,  in  all  his  controversies, 
there  appears  meekness  and  self-control.  Yet  he  was 
firm  ;  and  the  impression  seems  to  have  been  made  on 
those  who  differed  from  him,  that  he  was  unyielding. 
I  should  not  wonder  if  they  were  right.  He  saw  clearly ; 
he  relied  on  his  conclusions  ;  he  followed  out  his  con- 
victions :  why  should  he  be  yielding  in  matters  of 
truth  and  of  duty  .'' 

His  religious  character  shines  forth  with  no  unsteady 
or  fitful  light  from  the  last  year  of  his  college-life  until* 
his  dying  day,  and  calls,  perhaps,  after  what  has  been 
said  in  several  places  of  this  discourse,  for  no  especial 
remark.  It  united  principle  and  feeling.  He  laid 
down  rules  for  himself  in  regard  to  every  part  of 
Christian  living,  and  kept  to  them  with  strict  consist- 
ency. It  was  comprehensive,  like  his  mind.  Towards 
God  he  shows  the  submission  and  veneration  of  a 
lofty  soul,  that  longed  to  be  swallowed  up  in  the 
divine  excellence  and  beauty.  Benevolence,  or  love 
to  being  in  general  as  he  called  it,  was  his  idea 
of  virtue,  which  he  strove  to  realize.  It  was  uniform, 
so  that  all  Christian  excellence  appeared  in  his  life. 
It  was,  however,  severe,  and,  one  might  say,  almost 
ascetic  :  a  rigorous  self-analysis,  daily  habits  of  self- 
examination,  a  high  standard  of  attainment,  intense 
convictions  of  the  evil  that  was  in  his  nature,  made  it 
a  religion  of  struggle  for  som.ething  higher,  of  grave 
and  earnest  duty,  more  than  of  serenity  and  heav- 
enly joy. 


76  Edwards  Memorial. 

And,  now,  how  shall  we  estimate  the  influence  he 
has  had,  especially  his  influence  on  religious  life  and 
thought  in  New  England  ?  Here  we  are  to  take  into 
account  the  general  fact,  that  any  influence,  the  work 
of  thinking  or  of  acting  done  by  any  man,  is  distinct 
and  separate  at  first,  but  ere  long  mingles  with  the 
stream  of  thought,  and,  having  moulded  other  minds, 
operates  on  mankind  through  them,  even  when  they 
modify,  or  in  part  abandon,  his  system.  That  Edwards 
has  had  a  leading  influence  \m\\  be  admitted  by  all. 
Let  us  look  at  some  of  the  particulars  of  which  it 
consists. 

As  a  minister,  his  great  work  was  preaching  ;  and 
it  must  be  admitted  that  neither  his  style,  which  was 
wanting  in  more  than  one  respect,  nor  his  manner 
of  reading  his  little  pages,  covered  with  almost  micro- 
scopic characters,  with  one  elbow  resting  on  the 
desk,  and  the  other  hand  seldom  lifted  up  in  gesture, 
nor  the  great  length  of  his  sermons,  which  sometimes 
were  two  hours  in  the  delivery,  would  be  endured  at 
the  present  time.*  It  must  be  added,  also,  that  his 
delineations  of  the  anger  of  God,  and  of  the  punish- 

*  Dr.  Hopkins  says  that  he  "had  the  most  universal  character 
of  a  good  preacher  of  ahnost  any  minister  in  [his]  age  ; "  and  ascribes 
his  eminence  to  his  great  pains  in  composing  his  sermons,  especially  in 
the  first  part  of  his  life  ;  to  his  gi-eat  acquaintance  with  divinity,  his 
study  and  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  his  extensive  knowledge  and  great 
clearness  of  thought,  and  to  his  deep  religious  experience.  He  was 
not,  in  delivering  his  sermons,  Hopkins  adds,  so  confined  to  his  notes 
as  not  to  give  expression  to  thoughts  occurring  while  he  was  speak- 
ing ;  nor  did  he  prefer  preaching  with  notes  in  itself,  but,  "  in  the  latter 
part  of  his  life,  was  inclined  to  think  it  had  been  better  if  he  had  never 
accustomed  himself  to  use  notes  at  all."  But  the  alternative  in  his 
mind  was  committing  written  sermons  to  memory,  and  not  delivering 
them  unwritten  after  careful  thought. 


Edwards  Memorial.  "]*] 

ment  of  the  wicked,  were  strong,  severe,  and  even 
harrowing ;  going  far  beyond  what  the  purposes 
of  teaching  from  the  pulpit  require ;  still  farther  be- 
yond what  an  age  like  ours,  of  tender  benevolence, 
with  no  strong-backed  sense  of  justice,  could  endure. 
And  yet,  without  proper  eloquence,  or  charm  of  style 
or  of  manner,  he  was  a  mighty  preacher  for  his  day, 
and  was  so  regarded.  Dr.  Hopkins  says  that  "  most 
admired  him  beyond  all  that  ever  they  heard."  His 
noted  sermon,  preached  at  Enfield,  in  Connecticut,  ac- 
cording to  Trumbull,  the  historian  of  that  State  (vol. 
ii.  chap.  8),  so  affected  the  audience,  there  was  such 
breathing  of  distress,  that  the  preacher  was  obliged 
to  speak  to  the  people,  and  desire  silence,  that  he 
might  be  heard."  He  adds,  that  this  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  revival  in  that  parish.  The  account  of  this 
scene  by  an  actor  in  it,  while  it  differs  in  some  points 
from  Trumbull's  statement,  confirms  it  in  the  main 
point,  —  as  it  regards  the  amazing  impression  that  was 
made.*    This  impressiveness  we  have  already  ascribed 

*  The  account  of  this  occurrence,  given  by  Dr.  Stephen  WiUiams  of 
Longmeadovv,  Mass.,  kindly  communicated  to  me  by  Rev.  J.  W.  Har- 
ding of  that  place,  runs  as  follows,  under  date  of  July  8,  1741:  "We 
returned  to  Mr.  R.'s,  and  dined  ;  and  then  went  over  to  Enfield,  and 
here  met  dear  Mr.  E.  of  N.  H.,  who  preached  a  most  awakening  ser- 
mon from  Deut.  xxxii.  35  :  and,  before  sermon,  [there  was]  a  great 
mourning  and  crying  out  throughout  the  whole  house,  'What  shall 
I  do  to  be  saved?  Oh!  I  am  going  to  hell!  Oh!  what  shall  I  do 
without  Christ } '  &c. ;  so  that  the  minister  was  obliged  to  desist. 
The  shrieks  and  cries  were  piercing  and  amazing.  After  some  time 
of  waiting,  the  congregation  were  still,  so  that  a  prayer  was  made 
by  Mr.  W.  [i.e.,  by  himself]  ;  and  after  that  we  descended  from  the 
pulpit,  and  discoursed  with  the  people,  some  in  one  place,  and  some  in 
another,"  &c.  From  this  it  would  appear  that  the  services  were  in- 
terrupted, and  probably  not  finished.  It  is  also  probable  that  the 
people  were  already  in  an  excited  condition.     I'klwards,  it  should  be 


78  Edzuards  Memorial. 

to  his  intense  convictions,  and  to  the  intellectual 
power  which  was  in  him,  and  which,  in  its  way 
of  manifesting  itself,  was  suited  to  the  people  whom 
he  addressed.  Had  he  lived  a  century  later,  the  im- 
pressiveness  would  not  have  been  lost,  but  would  have 
reached  its  mark  by  another  style  and  manner. 

The  influence  of  Pres.  Edwards,  again,  was  pre- 
dominant in  various  departments  of  practical  the- 
ology. In  this,  probably,  we  shall  find  the  most 
lasting  contribution  that  he  made  to  the  churches 
of  New  England  ;  I  may  say,  of  our  whole  country. 
The  first,  .as  we  have  seen,  to  explore  revivals  ;  the 
first  to  sound  a  warning  against  their  evils,  while  he 
believed  in  them  as  a  work  of  God  ;  the  first  to  oppose 
effectually  and  overthrow  the  opinion  that  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  a  converting  ordinance  ;  the  first,  or 
among  the  first,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  to  rec- 
ommend a  universal  concert  of  prayer,  —  he,  in  one 
or  more  of  these  ways,  entered  into  every  parish,  and 
affected  the  views  and  usages  of  every  minister  in 
New  England.  And  this  was  an  influence  almost  ex- 
clusively good. 

His  power,  again,  is  shown  by  the  number  of  men, 
especially  of  young  men,  whom  he  drew  into  the  circle 
of  his  influence,  and  whose  minds  got  from  him  their 
leading  stimulus.  Notwithstanding  his  disadvantages 
for  wielding  a  strong  personal  power,  he  really  formed 
a  school  from  which  many  of  the  great  preachers  and 
thinkers  of  New  England  proceeded.  Hopkins  of 
Great  Barrington,  afterwards  of  Newport,  and  Bellamy 

observed,  did  not  generally  aim  at  arousing  strong  feeling,  but  gave  a 
simple  yet  amplified  exhibition  of  the  truths  of  religion  as  he  under- 
stood them. 


Edzvards  Memorial.  79 

of  Bethlehem,  wer.e  his  especial  friends,  and  embraced 
the  main  points  of  his  theology  ;  not  to  mention  his 
son,  the  younger  Pres.  Edwards,  and  others  whom 
his  works  instructed,  and  who  handed  down  his  spirit 
to  younger  generations.  From  this  school  came  the 
more  earnest  preachers  of  New  England,  —  the  ac- 
tive, aggressive  men,  with  whom  disinterested  benevo- 
lence was  not  a  theory,  but  a  law. 

Doubtless  it  was,  more  than  any  thing  else,  the 
theological  power  of  Edwards  that  drew  these  conge- 
nial minds  to  him.  Through  them,  his  theories  on 
the  nature  of  moral  agency  and  of  the  freedom  of  the 
will,  on  God's  end  in  creation,  on  the  nature  of  virtue, 
on  original  sin,  became  the  staple  of  thought  in  New 
England,  were  introduced  too  much  into  the  pulpit, 
and  have  had  a  decided  effect  on  religious  character. 
In  the  course  of  time,  these  followers  have  more  or 
less  modified  the  system  of  their  master.  They  have 
discarded  his  doctrine  of  original  sin,  especially  his 
old  Calvinistic  views  of  imputation.  They  have  gone 
beyond  him  in  explanations  of  the  atonement ;  and 
here  his  own  son,  a  man  of  powerful  mind,  led  the 
way.  They  have  more  recently,  some  of  them,  set 
aside  his  theory  of  the  will.  These  and  other  changes 
of  doctrine  are  due  to  his  spirit.  Meanwhile  they 
carried  practical  view^s  borrowed  from  him  to  an  ex- 
treme, as  on  the  point  of  disinterested  benevolence. 
In  all  this  I  seem  to  see  several  new  tendencies  im- 
pressed on  religious  life.  First,  there  is  a  tendency 
in  a  greater  degree  towards  the  subjective  in  religion. 
This  is  good  ;  but  when  it  impels  the  mind  into  self- 
analysis,  and  continual  examination  of  motives,  may 
end   in   great  evil.     Again  :  there  is   a  tendency  to 


8o  Edivards  Mnnorial. 

greater  activity  in  religious  life.  This  is  due  to  the 
putting  of  benevolence  as  a  leading  idea  into  the 
place  which  faith  took  among  earlier  Protestants  ;  and 
hence  spring  with  the  more  ease  the  thousand  efforts 
to  do  good  which  have  emanated  in  New  England. 
This  is  the  glory  of  New  England  ;  but  it  may  run  out 
into  work  without  thought,  undervaluing  of  doctrine, 
a  superficial  form  of  Christianity. 

But,  whatever  a  future  age  may  think  of  the  system 
of  doctrines  which  was  received  by  the  school  of  Ed- 
wards, it  will  not  deny  to  him  a  singular  purity  and 
holiness  of  life,  a  practical  wisdom  as  great  as  his 
power  in  metaphysical  science,  and  a  certain  adapta- 
tion to  his  times  and  the  circumstances  where  he  was 
called  to  work,  which  made  him  as  much  the  bene- 
factor of  his  times  as  his  great  views  in  theology  and 
great  logical  power  made  him  a  man  for  all  times. 
And  for  this  double  power  we  honor  him  ;  for  his 
godliness  we  revere  him. 

Note.  —  Dr.  S.  E.  D  wight  gives  the  impression,  as  it  seems  to  me,  that 
all  tlie  opposition  to  Edwards  at  Stockbridge  arose  from  a  single  man, 
who  aimed  at  making  money  out  of  the  Indians,  and  was  thwarted  in  his 
unrighteousness  by  Edwards's  rigid  rectitude.  The  rest  of  the  set- 
tlers, except  this  family,  were  on  the  side  of  Edwards.  But  it  can  be 
made  out,  I  think,  that  the  partisans  of  a  half-way  covenant,  and 
of  another  type  of  theology,  were  not  prepared  to  welcome  him  before 
he  was  called  to  preach  in  the  place.  One  of  them,  who  says,  in  one 
letter,  "Call  me  any  thing  else  [but  a  new  light],  and  I  will  excuse 
you,"  in  another,  dated  Nov.  6,  1750,  writes  as  follows:  "The  wor- 
thy deacon "  (i.e.,   Timothy   Woodbridge,   the  Indian    schoolmaster) 

"pressed  Edwards  on  the  commissioners.      , ,  and  are 

bitter  against  it :  first,  as  he  does  not  know  the  language  ;  second,  be- 
cause they  do  not  like  the  man."  "  How  unsuitable  a  person  is 
Mr.  Edwards  on  almost  every  account  for  this  business  !  I  have  not 
time  so  much  as  to  mention  a  hundred  things  that  I  could  talk  a  day 
upon."     "  Can't  the  commissioners  be  led  to  think  it  of  the  lastimpor- 


Edwards  Memorial.  8i 

tance  that  a  gentleman  should  lie  young  in  order  to  be  [soon]  expert  (?) 
in  the  language  ;  should  be  of  a  generous,  catholic  spirit,  not  only  to 
recommend  himself  and  mission  to  the  prince  and  others  abroad,  but 
[to]  do  forty  times  as  much  good  at  home  ? " 

"Mr.  Hopkins  of  Springfield  is  far  from  thinking  his  brother-[in- 
law]  proper  to  come  here.  He  freely  told  Mr.  Woodbridge  so.  But 
he  [Woodbridge]  can  get  the  Indians  to  say  just  what  he  bids  them ; 
and  their  humble  petition  with  his  earnest  desire  will  be  sufficient  for 
the  purpose.  Our  neighbor,  Mr.  Hopkins  (Dr.  Hopkins,  afterwards 
of  Newport),  is  deeply  engaged  with  him.  Mr.  Hopkins  of  .Spring- 
field is  so  nearly  related,  that  I  fear  he  will  be  loath  to  act  against  his 
brother-[in-law3,"  &c. 

But  the  prejudice  wore  off  in  part.  The  same  person  writes,  Feb. 
15,  1 75 1,  "Mr.  Edwards  is  now  with  us.  He  has  conducted  with 
wisdom  and  prudence  ;  and,  I  must  confess,  I  am  not  a  little  disap- 
pointed in  him.  He  is  learned,  polite,  and  free  in  conversation,  and 
more  catholic  than  I  had  supposed." 

In  1754  there  is  another  outburst  of  dislike.  A  letter  of  Aug.  6  con- 
tains these  words  :  "  They  [our  ditficulties]  are  altogether  of  an  eccle- 
siastic kind,  too  many  to  be  enumerated,  too  base  to  be  named.  Mr. 
Edwards  and  his  abetters,  by  these  deep-concerted  schemes,  have 
induced  Mr.  Holiis  to  submit  himself  with  his  whole  charity  and  yearly 
donations  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Edwards,  to  be  disposed  cf  entirely 
agreeable  to  the  judgment  and  humor  of  his  own  mind.  Upon  the 
receipt  of  his  orders,  the  school  [the  HoIlis  boarding-school]  suddenly 
broke  up.  Soon  after,  all  the  families,  with  their  children,  went  home 
to  Onoquaugah  and  Canajohary." 

It  was  reasonable  to  make  objections  to  Edwards  on  account  of  his 
age,  and  ignorance  of  the  language  at  such  an  age.  But  theological 
and  perhaps  family  dislikes  shine  through  these  letters.  As  for  "  deep- 
concerted  schemes,"  any  one  who  will  read  chapters  26-28  of  Dr. 
Dwight's  biography  of  his  great-grandfather  will  see  that  they  were 
upright  attempts  to  throw  off  more  than  one  incubus  from  the  mission. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  he  had  any  thing  of  trick  in  his  character. 
His  opinion  was,  perhaps,  a  wrong  one,  —  that  the  Indians  ought  to  be 
made  to  learn  English.  He  thereby  condemned  his  predecessor.  But 
he  sent  his  own  son  among  the  Indians  of  New  York  to  learn  tlieir 
language. 

6 


82  Edwards  Manorial. 

When  this  discourse  was  finished,  the  following 
hymn,  composed  for  the  occasion,  was. sung.  It  was 
written  by  Mrs.  Sarah  Edwards  Henshaw  of  Ottawa, 
III,  one  of  the  family,  who,  however,  was  unable  to 
be  present. 

HYMN. 

In  clays  and  years  long  since  gone  by, 
Lord,  thou  hast  been  our  dwelling-place  ; 
Alike  when  joy  and  grief  were  nigh, 
The  refuge  of  our  name  and  race. 

Who,  who  should  bless  thy  holy  name, 
Who  yearn  to  thee  with  pure  desires, 
And  who  thy  faithfulness  proclaim, 
If  not  the  children  of  our  sires  .'' 

They  for  their  portion  chose  thee,  Lord  ; 
And  we,  their  seed,  renew  the  choice  : 
They  rested  on  thy  covenant-word  ; 
We  in  that  covenant  rejoice. 

To-day  we  gather  round  thy  feet. 
On  the  long  ^ears  we  backward  gaze, 
With  hearts  too  full  for  utterance  meet, 
With  thoughts  of  joy,  and  hymns  of  praise. 

Seed  of  the  lighteous,  wake,  oh  !  wake 
To  grateful  songs  and  ardent  prayers. 
God  owns  us  for  our  fathers'  sake  : 
The  Lord  is  ours,  as  he  was  theirs. 

The  time  for  adjournment  had  now  arrived.  But, 
before  it  took  place,  the  Hon.  J.  Z.  Goodrich,  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  of  Entertainment,  rose,  and  ex- 
tended an  invitation  to  the  family  and  to  the  strangers 
present  to  partake  of  refreshment  during  the  recess, 
at  tables  spread  under  the  mammoth  tent  on  the  green 
grass  by  the  side  of  the  church. 


Edivards  Memorial.  83 

The  meeting  was  then  adjourned  to  two  o'clock,  p.m. 
When  the  company  of  four  or  five  hundred  was  seated, 
the  president  called  upon  Rev.  Dr.  Prime  of  New 
York  to  invoke  the  divine  blessin";. 


AFTERNOON    SESSION. 

At  two,  P.M.,  the  meeting  came  to  order  ;  the  presi- 
dent in  the  chair.  It  had  been  arranged  that  four  or 
five  epochs  or  periods  of  the  life  of  Edwards  should 
be  presented  somewhat  in  detail  by  about  the  same 
number  of  gentlemen,  that  the  salient  points  of  those 
periods  might  be  brought  into  stronger  relief  than 
would  otherwise  be  practicable. 

Rev.  Increase  N.  Tarbox,  D.D.,  of  Boston,  himself  a 
native  of  East  .Windsor,  was  invited  to  present  the 
early  life  of  Edwards.  His  graphic  delineations  will 
be  read  with  deep  interest. 

I.    N.    TARBOX,    D.D., 

ON   THE   EARLY    LIFE   OF  JONATHAN    EDWARDS 

It  was  at  the  close  of  ane  of  the  longest  and  hottest 
days  of  last  June,  just  as  the  sun  was  going  down,  that 
I  stood  in  the  old  burying-ground  of  East  Windsor, 
Conn.,  amid  some  of  the  early  graves  of  the  Edwards 
family.  Any  one  who  has  passed  along  the  road  from 
East-Windsor  Hill  toward  Hartford  may  remember 
this  ancient  grave-yard  on  the  west  side  of  the  way, 
about  half  a  mile  below  the  buildings  formerly  occu- 
pied by  the  Connecticut  Theological  Institute.  The 
spot  long  since  ceased  to  be  used  as  a  common  place 


84  Edzvards  Memorial. 

for  burial.  It  is  kept  neatly  though  plainly  enclosed  ; 
and,  within,  every  thing  bears  the  marks  of  a  rude  and 
simple  antiquity.  [These  are  not,  it  is  true,  the  old- 
est graves  in  the  town,  since  the  earliest  burial-place 
was  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  This  lot  was 
opened  not  far  from  the  year  1700.]  Often  as  I  had 
passed  this  spot  in  my  early  life,  I  never  realized  until 
recently  how  beautiful  it  is  for  situation,  especially 
under  certain  conditions  of  light  and  shade.  From 
the  back  side  of  this  lot,  the  ground  falls  off  suddenly 
down  to  the  broad  meadow-lands  skirting  the  Con- 
necticut. Standing  upon  the  very  place  where  these 
graves  are  found,  the  eye  has  an  easy  and  compre- 
hensive sweep  across  these  wide  and  rich  meadows, 
far  away  to  the  western  hills.  In  the  freshness  of  its 
June  beauty,  and  with  the  glory  of  its  summer  cul- 
ture upon  it,  especially  when  seen  in  the  soft  light 
of  the  setting  sun,  it  would  be  hard  to  find  a  land- 
scape over  which  the  eye  ranges  with  more  delight. 

Bending  over  these  weather-beaten  and  moss-grown 
stones,  and  reading  the  simple  inscriptions  upon  them, 
one  seems  to  be  borne  far  away  from  all  the  associa- 
tions of  our  own  noisy,  changing,  bustling  age,  back 
to  a  period  of  ancient  stability  and  rest.  There  .rises 
before  us  the  picture  of  a  long  and  venerable  life, 
passing  quietly  with  the  quiet  years. 

On  this  massive,  horizontal  slab,  lifted  upon  its  four 
pillars,  one  reads  how  Rev.  Mr.  Timothy  Edwards 
died  and  was  buried  here  in  1758,  in  the  eighty-ninth 
year  of  his  age,  and  in  the  sixty-fourth  of  his  min- 
istry. By  the  side  of  this  monument,  on  a  stone  once 
upright,  but  now  swayed  and  bent  by  the  frosts  of 
many  winters,  we  spell  out  with  difficulty  the  inscrip- 


Edzuards  Manorial.  85 

tion  which  tells  us  that  Mrs.  Esther  Edwards,  daugh- 
ter of  Rev.  Mr.  Stoddard  of  Northampton,  and  the 
consort  of  Rev.  Thnothy  Edwards  of  Windsor,  died 
twelve  years  after  her  husband,  in  1770,  in  the  ninety- 
ninth  year  of  her  age.  Three  other  rude  headstones 
mark  the  graves  of  Mary,  Lucy,  and  Jerusha  lulwards, 
the  three  daughters  who  died  unmarried. 

The  meeting-house  in  which  Mr.  Timothy  Edwards 
fulfilled  his  long  ministry  was  at  the  north-east  cor- 
ner of  this  lot.  There  were  two  meeting-houses, 
indeed,  during  Mr.  Edwards's  time,  both  built  upon 
this  same  spot,  —  the  one  a  rough,  unfinished  struc- 
ture, lasting  some  fifteen  or  twenty  years  through 
the  day  of  small  things  ;  the  other  a  building  of 
mere  pretension,  having  the  stately  proportions  of 
"  forty  feet  square."  This  last  continued  till  Mr. 
Edwards's  death.  Just  after  his  death,  as  a  new 
parish  had  now  been  formed  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  town,  the  natural  place  for  the  meeting-house 
in  the  south  part  was  some  two  miles  below,  where  it 
was  built  in  1760,  near  the  spot  on  which  the  present 
meeting-house  in  South  Windsor  stands.  Here  and 
there,  in  my  own  early  life,  there  were  elderly  men 
and  women  in  East  Windsor,  who,  in  their  early  life, 
attended  upon  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Edwards.  And 
there  were  still  more  who  well  remembered  Mrs.  Ed- 
wards, living  on  to  the  great  age  of  ninety-nine,  and 
who  was  always,  but  especially  in  her  latter  years,  held 
in  peculiar  reverence.  It  is  a  fresh  and  well-remem- 
bered tradition,  how  the  women  of  the  parish  used  to 
gather  abjut  her,  day  by  day,  in  her  old  age,  as  around 
some  heavenly  oracle,  to  minister  to  her  earthly  com- 
fort, and  to  catch  her  elevated  and  saintly  conver- 
sation. 


86  Edzvards  Manorial. 

The  dwelling-house  occupied  by  the  Edwards  fam- 
ily was  on  the  other  side  of  the  road  from  the  meet- 
ing-house, and  a  little  way  below.  It  was  a  most 
substantial  house  for  those  times. 

It  was  built  in  1694  or  1695,  and  lasted  till  about 
the  year  18 10.  The  old  people  now  living  in  that 
vicinity  remember  well  the  antique  structure  as  it 
appeared  in  the  early  years  of  the  present  century. 
On  the  spot  where  it  stood,  using,  if  I  mistake  not, 
the  identical  cellar,  there  was  afterwards  erected  a 
plain,  one-story  house,  which  yet  remains.  It  may 
serve  to  show  the  changes  wrought  by  time  when  we 
state  that  this  house  is  now  occupied  by  one  of  our 
adopted  fellow-citizens  from  old  Ireland,  by  the  name 
of  Mr.  Christopher  McNary.  Though  he  lives  upon 
a  spot  that  is  famous,  he  seems  not  to  be  aware  of  his 
privileges  in  this  regard.  He  is  not  well  read  up  in 
the  Edwardean  history.  The  associations  of  the  past 
disturb  him  not.  Though  his  name  bears  the  plucky 
Scotch  prefix  of  Mc,  yet  he  gives  no  signs,  as  yet, 
of  writing  a  treatise  "  On  the  Method  of  the  Divine 
Government,  Physical  and  Moral."  Nay,  he  hardly 
takes  thought  enough  upon  such  subjects  even  to 
illustrate  Pres.  Edwards's  treatise  "  Concerning  the 
Nature  of  True  Virtue."  Like  most  of  his  neighbors, 
whether  native  or  foreign-born,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  he 
finds  his  chief  occupation  in  raising  tobacco. 

But  we  must  go  back  a  little,  in  order  to  compass 
clearly  the  matters  we  have  in  hand.  Cotton  Mather, 
in  his  "  Magnalia,"  gives  us  a  list  of  the  churches  in 
the  four  New-England  colonies,  with  their  ministers, 
as  they  stood  in  the  year  1696.  In  the  Connecticut 
list  we  read,  "Windsor,  Mr.  Samuel  Mather,  H.  C. , 


Edzvards  Alcmorial.  87 

and  Farmc,  Mr.  Timothy  Edwards,  H.*C."  Wind- 
sor was  the  oldest  Enghsh  settlement  in  the  little 
State  of  Connecticut.  As  the  town  was  originally 
laid  out,  it  was  a  large  tract,  some  twelve  or  fifteen 
miles  square  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  and  covering 
one  of  the  richest  portions  of  that  fertile  valley.  [On 
this  territory,  at  the  time  the  white  settlements  be- 
gan, the  Indians  were  congregated  in  numbers  which 
for  them,  with  their  habits  of  life,  were  very  unusual. 
They  had  been  attracted  thither  by  the  beauty  of 
the  landscape,  by  the  excellent  fishing  and  hunting 
grounds,  by  the  genial  and  sunny  aspects  of  Nature, 
and  by  the  productiveness  of  the  soil,  which  was  easily 
worked,  and  on  which  their  corn  would  grow  to  per- 
fection.] The  first  white  settlements  were  on  the 
west  side  of  the  river.  There  the  first  church  was 
planted  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Rev.  John  Warham 
in  1635,  —  a  church  that  was  formed  in  England  in 
1630,  coming  over  to  the  new  worJd  in  a  body,  and 
stopping  for  a  time  at  Dorchester,  and  afterwards  re- 
moving to  Windsor.  The  old  burying-yard  in  Wind- 
sor marks  the  spot  where  the  first  settlers  made  their 
habitations.  This  elevated  ground,  with  the  Farm- 
ington  River  coming  in  on  one  side,  was  fortified  by  a 
trench  and  palisades  for  protection  against  the  Indi- 
ans. But  the  wide  meadows  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river  were  rich  and  attractive  ;  and,  as  the  years  passed 
on,  the  settlers  went  over  to  establish  themselves 
upon  these  fertile  lands.  We  have  just  noticed,  that, 
in  Cotton  Mather's  numeration  of  the  churches  in  the 
year  1696,  this  region  east  of  the  river,  which  was 
afterwards  the  town  of  East  Windsor,  is  called  the 
"Windsor  Farmc,"  —  a  most  appropriate  designation, 


88  Edwards  Memorial. 

as  any  one  will  feci  who  rides  along  the  valley  to-day 
on  the  east  side,  and  takes  note  of  the  natural  beauty 
and  richness  of  those  lands.  And  so  it  happened, 
that,  between  the  years  1635  and  1694,  there  had 
grown  up  a  population  on  the-  east  side  of  considera- 
ble extent,  the  scattered  farm-houses  reaching  up  and 
down  the  river  over  a  range  of  some  seven  or  eight 
miles.  This  population,  for  the  most  part,  was 
stretched  along  in  a  line,  just  up  on  the  second  bank 
above  the  floods.  The  farms  were  made  up  in  part 
of  these  wide  and  rich  bottom-lands  along  the  river, 
and  in  part  of  these  dryer  and  sandier  uplands. 
During  all  these  years,  up  to  1694,  the  dwellers  on 
the  east  side  had  attended  church  upon  the  other 
side.  Thither  their  dead  had  been  borne  for  burial. 
In  heat  and  cold  and  storm,  they  had  crossed  and 
recrossed  in  boats,  —  nothing  like  a  bridge  over  this 
broad  river  being  yet  thought  of  Those  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  shape  of  the  ground  and  the 
operations  of  Nature  along  that  valley  will  understand 
that  this  passing  of  the  river  back  and  forth  was  at 
all  times  laborious,  frequently  it  was  difficult  and  dan- 
gerous, and  sometimes  it  was  well-nigh  impossible. 
In  the  great  floods  of  the  winter  and  spring,  and  in 
the  breaking-up  of  the  ice,  the  dwellers  on  the  one 
side  would  be  cut  off  from  intercourse  with  those  upon 
the  other  side. 

About  the  year  16S0 'there  began  to  be  a  move- 
ment looking  to  a  separate  parish  on  the  east  side  of 
the  river.  Some  of  the  early  efforts  failed.  In  1691 
a  petition  was  sent  in  to  the  General  Court,  and  in 
this  we  have  a  clew  to  the  population  :  "  God  having 
increased  the   number  of  our  families  to  above  fifty, 


Edwards  Memorial.  89 

wherein  it  is  reckoned  there  are  near  three  hundred 
persons  capable  of  hearing  the  word  of  God  to  profit." 
It  was  not  until  the  year  1694  that  the  prayer  of  the 
petitioners  was  granted  and  a  separate  parish  organ- 
ized. 

It  so  happened  that  Timothy  Edwards,  son  *  of 
Richard  Edwards  of  Hartford,  and  grandson  of  William 
Edwards,  the  first  settler  of  the  name  in  that  city,  had 
just  completed  his  education,  collegiate  and  theologi- 
cal, and  stood  ready  to  enter  upon  his  life-work. 
Harvard  was  then  the  only  college  in  the  New-Eng- 
land colonies  ;  and  there  the  youthful  Timothy  had 
graduated  in  the  year  1691,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two, 
with  peculiar  honors.  Because  of  the  accuracy  and 
superiority  of  his  scholarship,  the  degrees  of  A.B.and 
A.M.  were  both  conferred  upon  him  on  his  graduat- 
ing-day,  —  a  mark  of  approbation  never  before  shown, 
it  is  said,  to  a  student  at  the  college.  After  graduat- 
ing, he  had  given  long  and  careful  attention  to  theo- 
logical studies  ;  and,  when  the  parish  of  Windsor 
Farme  was  ready  for  its  first  minister,  he  was  just 
ready  for  his  first  and  only  parish.  And  so  the  two 
were  brought  together.  No  sooner  was  this  arrange- 
ment made  than  another  important  step  was  taken. 
The  young  minister  went  up  to  Northampton,  and, 
from  the  parsonage-house  with  its  twelve  children, 
brought  away  the  second,  Esther  Stoddard,  to  share 
the  joys  and  sorrows  of  his   new  life.     She  was  then 

*  It  is  an  interesting  circumstance,  tliat,  as  Jonathan  Edwards  was 
the  great-grandson  of  William  Edwards,  known  as  the  settler,  so  his 
wife,  Sarah  Pierrepont,  was  the  great-granddaughter  of  Rev.  Thomas 
Hooker,  the  first  minister  of  Hartford.  The  town  of  Hartford  was  the 
ancestral  home  of  bot'.i. 


go  Edzvards  Memorial. 

twenty-three  years  old,  and  he  twenty-five.  She  had 
been  at  school  at  Boston,  and  had  received  there  the 
best  education  which  New  England  could  then  give. 
It  is  no  very  rash  supposition,  perhaps,  to  conjecture 
that  the  incipient  stages  of  this  courtship  were  gone 
through  with  while  Timothy  was  a  member  of  Plar- 
vard  College,  and  Esther  was  a  school-girl  in  the 
neighboring  city.  Such  things  have  been,  are  now  ; 
and  "  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun."  Still,  in 
coming  down  to  grace  the  East-Windsor  parsonage, 
she  was  coming  amid  ancestral  associations  ;  for  her 
mother  was  born  and  reared  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river,  being  the  daughter,  of  Rev.  Mr.  Warham,  and 
she,  too,  bearing  the  beautiful  name  of  Esther. 

Richard  Edwards,  the  father,  was  disposed  to  make 
the  most  generous  provisions  for  a  son  whom  he 
loved,  and  who  had  done  honor  to  his  family  by  his 
course  at  Harvard.  Being  a  substantial  Christian 
merchant  of  Hartford,  so  soon  as  Timothy  had  ar- 
ranged to  settle  in  the  ministry  at  East  Windsor,  he 
came  up  and  purchased  a  farm  of  good  proportions, 
and  built  the  house  which  has  already  been  described. 
These  he  gave  to  his  son,  that  his  ministerial  life 
might  have  a  basis  of  strength  and  respectability.  It 
must  be  confessed  that  Mr.  Edwards  began  his  minis- 
try here  under  most  happy  auspices. 

Into  this  newly-formed  household  the  children 
came  according  to  the  laws  of  ancient  order.  Eleven 
were  born  into  it  in  the  course  of  twenty-one  years, 
no  one  of  whom  died  in  infancy  or  childhood.  The 
earliest  break  in  the  circle  was  made  by  the  death  of 
Jerusha,  the  eighth  child,  dying  when  near  the  age  of 
twenty,  in  the  year  1729.     For  thirty-five  years,  into 


Edzvards  Memorial.  91 

this  family,  embracing  at  last  thirteen  individuals,  the 
shadow  of  death  had  not  intruded. 

In  this  household,  the  fifth  child  and  the  only  son 
was  that  illustrious  person  whose  greatness  we  cele- 
brate here  to-day.  When  we  consider  the  general 
conditions  of  life  and  society  about  him,  how  little 
there  was  to  stir  the  imagination  and  stimulate  intel- 
lectual growth,  it  certainly  seems  a  strange  thing,  that 
on  this  spot,  and  in  these  circumstances,  a  child  should 
be  born  who  should  grow  into  the  stateliest  propor- 
tions, and  be  recognized  far  and  wide  in  the  earth  as 
one  of  the  greatest  masters  of  human  thought.  Every 
thing  around  him,  during  the  period  of  his  childhood, 
was  in  the  very  shadows  of  the  wilderness.  As  he 
went  up  from  sabbath  to  sabbath  with  his  father  and 
mother  and  sisters  to  the  house  of  God,  that  house 
itself  was  so  rude  as  to  convey  the  idea  of  only  a  half- 
civilized  state.  Without  and  within  it  was  unfinished, 
with  no  pews  or  seats,  or  even  floor.  Stiles,  in  his 
"History  of  Windsor,"  says,  "  This  house,  so  far  as  we 
can  learn,  was  merely  a  covered  frame,  without  floor 
or  seats  ;  and  the  people  sat  upon  the  sills  and  sleep- 
ers." In  this  old  parish  of  East  Windsor,  at  the  time 
of  Mr.  Edwards's  settlement,  there  was  a  large  fund  of 
character ;  but  it  was,  as  yet,  in  the  rough.  Among 
the  men  and  women  to  whom  Mr.  Edwards  preached, 
there  were  many  of  great  native  strength  ;  but  they 
were  occupied  with  plain  and  humble  cares,  such  as 
always  pertain  to  the  early  life  of  a  new  land.  Here 
were  the  Ellsworths,  the  Wolcotts,  the  Bissells,  the 
Tudors,  the  Stoughtons,  the  Bartlctts,  the  Grants  (an- 
cestors of  our  President),  the  Phelpses,  the  Rockwells, 
the   Bancrofts,   the  Trumbulls,   and   others,  —  names 


92 


Ediuards  ManoriaL 


which  have  always  been  names  of  dignity  and  worth 
in  this  land.  But,  so  far  as  books  and  schools  and  arts 
were  concerned,  it  was  but  a  rude  and  unpolished  age  ; 
and  yet  no  age  can  be  really  rude  where  the  open 
Bible  is  enthroned  in  the  sanctuary  and  in  every  pri- 
vate dwelling,  and  light  and  instruction  are  daily 
sought  from  its  pages. 

But,  however  rough  and  unformed  may  have  been 
the  condition  of  things  in  the  Connecticut  Valley  at 
that  time,  we  must  not  forget  that  the  parsonage-house 
at  East  Windsor  was  itself  a  little  seminary,  where 
not  only  the  inmates  of  the  house,  but  the  young  peo- 
ple from  the  surrounding  homes,  received  instruction. 
The  young  minister  here,  as  we  have  seen,  was  one  of 
the  choicest  and  best  scholars  that  Harvard  had  then 
sent  out  ;  and  his  young  wife  w^as  a  pattern  of  grace 
and  culture  and  dignity.  As  the  children,  one  by  one, 
came  forward  into  life,  they  were  instructed,  not  alone 
in  the  simple  elements  of  knowledge,  but  in  the 
higher  ranges  of  education.  It  is  a  well-preserved 
item,  that  each  of  these  ten  daughters,  in  their  quiet 
country-home,  far  away  from  cities  and  seminaries, 
received  the  education  preparatory  to  entering  college. 
As  four  sisters  preceded  the  boy  in  the  order  of  the 
family  history,  the  eldest  of  these  were  themselves 
fitted  to  act  as  his  instructors,  and  to  lead  him  along 
in  the  paths  of  wisdom.  In  the  year  i/ii,  Mr. 
Edwards  was  absent  for  a  time  from  his  home  by  ap- 
pointment of  the  colonial  government,  acting  as  chap- 
lain in  the  army  in  an  expedition  to  Canada.  At  that 
time,  the  boy  Jonathan  was  eight  years  old.  The  fa- 
ther writes  home  that  he  wishes  him  and  the  girJs  to 
continue  the  study  of  Latin  ;  and  a  few  days  later  he 


Edwards  MetiioriaL  93 

writes  again,  directing  that  Jonatlian  continue  to 
recite  his  Latin  to  his  elder  sisters.  The  boy  had 
begun  this  study  of  Latin  at  the  age  of  six  years ;  so 
that  he  was  now  well  along  in  it. 

This  house  was  for  many  years  a  thorough  intel- 
lectual work-shop.  I  have  borrowed  for  this  occasion 
an  old  rnanuscript-book,  —  a  venerable  'Edwardean 
relic,  —  which  reveals  in  a  most  simple  and  natural 
way  many  of  the  incidents  of  the  life  which  was  lived 
in  the  Connecticut  Valley  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago.  It  is  the  account-book,  in  which  Mr.  Edwards 
kept  a  debtor  and  creditor  account  with  each  one  of 
his  tax-paying  parishioners.  This  book  belongs  to 
Hon.  John  W.  Stoughton  of  East- Windsor  Hill,  who, 
though  not  a  descendant  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  is,  as 
a  host  of  other  people  are,  descended  from  Timothy 
Edwards  through  the  daughters.  Mr.  Edwards's  pa- 
rishioners paid  their  taxes  directly  to  him  :  but  they 
did  not  generally  pay  in  money,  but  in  the  produce 
of  the  farm  ;  in  the  merchandise  from  the  store  ;  in 
the  work  of  the  trades,  —  shoemaking,  tailoring,  black- 
smithing,  joiner-work,  and  the  like.  This  is  not  the 
earliest  of  these  account-books,  since  it  ranges  over 
the  years  from  about  1723  on  to  1745.  Mr.  Edwards 
was  a  very  careful  and  systematic  man  ;  and  no  doubt 
he  did  the  same  thing  through  all  his  long  ministry  : 
indeed,  it  was  a  necessity  in  those  times.  While 
absent  on  the  military  expedition  before  referred  to,  he 
writes  to  his  wife,  "  I  would  have  you  very  careful  of 
my  books  and  account  of  rates."  This  l)ook  contains 
the  names  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-three  persons 
with  whom  Mr.  Edwards  kept  accounts  ;  and  many 
most  interesting  facts  may  be  gleaned  from  it. 


94  Edwards  Memorial. 

But  the  point  we  would  now  illustrate  is  the  intel- 
lectual activity  at  the  East-Windsor  parsonage.  A 
frequent  item  in  these  accounts  has  reference  to  the 
education  given  by  Mr.  Edwards  and  his  daughters  to 
the  children  of  those  scattered  households.  For  ex- 
ample, in  Mr.  John  Rockwell's  account,  under  the 
date  of  1723  and  1724,  he  is  charged  with  the  follow- 
ing item :  — 

"  To  teaching  his  son  one  year  and  eight  months,  — 
viz.,  his  eldest  son, — in  all,  ^10.  17^-.  6dr 

Under  date  of  1732,  we  find  the  following  :  — 

"  John  Diggens  came  to  me,  by  his  father's  desire, 
to  be  instructed  in  the  Latin  tongue,  &c.,  on  a  Mon- 
day.    The  first  week,  he  was  here  but  three  days." 

This  John  Diggens,  son  of  Mr.  Jeremiah  Diggens, 
continued  his  studies  in  this  line  for  some  years  ;  for 
in  the  year  1737  there  was  a  reckoning,  and  we  find 
the  following  record  :  — 

"  Reckoned  with  John  Diggens  by  his  father's  order, 
and  due  to  me  for  teaching  him  the  tongues,  —  viz., 
Latin  and  Greek,  —  forty-seven  weeks  in  all,  ^g.  Sjt." 

By  looking  at  thg;  triennial  catalogue  of  Yale,  it  will 
be  seen  that  this  same  John  Diggens  graduates  there 
in  1740. 

They  were  very  particular  and  exact  in  those  days 
about  the  absences.  Under  date  of  March,  1732, 
there  is  this  memorandum  :  — 

"  John  Anderson  came  again  to  my  house  to  board, 
and  to  learn  to  read,  write,  and  cipher  ;  and,  from 
time  to  time,  went  home  on  Saturday  as  he  wished  to 
to  do." 

Farther  down  we  read,  — 

"John   Anderson  was   absent    two  weeks   and   one 


Edwm'ds  Memorial.  95 

day.  He  went  home  on  Saturday  before  the  election  ; 
and,  May  22,  he  came  agahi." 

In  1729,  Major  Roger  Wolcott,  afterwards  colonial 
governor  of  Connecticut,  is  charged  with  his  son 
Alexander's  schooling  ;  and  he  also  graduated  at  Yale 
in  173 1.  Quite  a  number  of  others  are  brought  to  view 
who  went  through  the  same  experience.  Serg.  David 
Bissell,  Mr.  William  Wolcott,  the  Widow  Gaylor,  all 
have  sons  who  are  instructed  in  "  the  tongues "  by 
Mr.  Edwards,  and  who  afterward  graduate  at  Yale. 

Not  only  were  the  boys  of  his  own  parish  thus 
taught,  and,  if  they  desired  it,  fitted  for  college,  but  from 
other  places  they  came  lor  the  same  purpose  ;  so  that 
the  East-Windsor  parsonage  was  really  the  academy  for 
that  region.  It  is  handed  down  as  a  tradition,  that, 
when  young  men  from  under  Mr.  Edwards's  tuition 
presented  themselves  before  the  authorities  to  be  ex- 
amined for  entrance  into  college,  it  was  felt  that  any 
lengthy  examination  was  quite  superfluous.  If  Mr. 
Edwards  said  they  were  ready  for  college,  that  was 
enough. 

It  will  be  seen  by  this  review,  that,  however  rude 
society  may  have  been  in  the  time  of  Jonathan 
Edwards's  childhood  and  youth,  his  own  home  was  one 
of  great  literary  and  intellectual  activity.  Accurate 
and  systematic  study  was  the  order  of  the  day  in  the 
Edwards  household. 

No  one,  however,  will  pretend  to  find  the  real  key 
to  Edwards's  greatness  in  any  thing  merely  outward. 
Back  of  all  surrounding  influences,  we  are  to  recog- 
nize a  mind  of  lordly  grasp  and  compass,  —  a  soul  en- 
dowed by  its  Creator  with  marvellous  powers  and  ca- 
pacities.    From  the  beginning,  there  was  an  original 


96  Edivai'ds  Memorial. 

and  masterly  force  which  Hfted  him  above  the  ordi- 
nary conditions  and  temptations  of  childhood.  There 
was  a  native  strength  of  understanding,  which  made 
him,  in  a  great  measure,  a  law  unto  himself  'Still,  no 
child,  however  remarkable,  can  be  wholly  independent 
of  his  surroundings  ;  and,  in  the  making-up  of  his 
character  and  destiny,  we  are  to  study  these  out- 
side infiuences  as  well  as  the  original  bent  of  his 
genius. 

From  his  early  years,  Jonathan  Edwards  was  cer- 
tainly most  peculiarly  situated  as  to  his  home-influ- 
ences. Flanked  by  sisters  on  either  hand,  had  this 
been  a  weak  and  sentimental  household,  the  ecrowine: 
boy  might  easily  have  been  petted  and  spoiled. 
When  he  went  to  college  in  1716,  there  were  four 
sisters  on  the  one  side,  and  five  on  the  other  ;  and 
little  Martha,  the  last  of  tlie  race,  was  born  during 
his  freshman-year.  For  three  generations,  at  least, 
this  branch  of  the  Edwards  family  ran  remarkably  to 
daughters. 

Mr.  Molhster,  in  his  "  History  of  Connecticut," 
gives  a  striking  passage  to  Jonathan  Edwards  ;  and,  in 
the  course  of  it,  he  thus  beautifully  alludes  to  the  strong 
female  influence  by  which  this  remarkable  child  was 
enveloped:  "He  enjoyed,"  says  Mr.  Hollistcr,  "the 
rare  advantage,  never  understood  and  felt  except  by 
those  who  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  experience 
it,  of  all  the  softening  and  hallowed  influences  which 
refined  female  society  sheds  like  an  atmosphere  of 
light  around  the  mind  and  soul  of  boyhood.  Had 
that  fond  mother  and  those  loving  sisters  been  fully 
aware  of  the  glorious  gifts  that  were  even  then  begin- 
ning to  glow  in  the  eyes  of  their  darling;  had  they 


Edwards  Memorial.  97 

been  able  to  see  in  its  full  blaze  the  immortal  beauty, 
borrowed  from  the  regions  of  spiritualized  thought 
and  hallowed  affections,  that  was  one  day  to  encir- 
cle that  forehead  as  with  a  wreath  from  the  bowers 
of  paradise,  —  they  could  hardly  have  unfolded  his 
moral  and  intellectual  character  with  more  discreet 
care." 

We  have  already  given  a  general  glance  at  the  scene- 
ry that  prevails  along  that  part  of  the  Connecticut 
Valley.  As  compared  with  most  of  our  New-England 
country,  this  region  would  be  called  level  ;  but  it  is 
not  the  level  of  the  prairie.  It  has  hills  and  valleys 
of  its  own  ;  sharp  inequalities  of  surface,  affording 
cosey  nooks  and  corners,  romantic  hiding-places  in 
the  forests  ;  leafy  dells,  where  the  shy  wood-thrushes 
sing,  and  where  the  little  brooks  ripple  under  the 
shadows.  The  whole  region,  too,  is  remarkably  pro- 
lific in  animal,  insect,  and  vegetable  life. 

Just  east  of  the  spot  where  the  old  Edwards  man- 
sion stood,  partly  upon  the  Edwards  farm,  and  partly 
beyond  and  outside  of  it,  is  one  of  these  broken  and 
irregular  tracts  of  country.  A  traveller  passing  along 
the  ancient  road,  up  and  down  the  river,  would  hardly 
realize  in  what  a  pleasant  and  romantic  spot  he  might 
lose  himself  by  passing  in  at  the  gate,  and  going 
eastward  a  hundred  rods  into  the  woods.  One  may 
be  perfectly  certain  that  the  feet  of  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards threaded  this  region  in  all  directions.  It  re- 
quires, indeed,  just  a  little  stretch  of  imagination  to 
think  of  him  as  setting  snares  in  the  woods  to  catch 
partridges,  or  as  fixing  his.  box-traps  for  rabbits,  or 
as  going  with  other  boys  to  swim  in  the  Connecticut. 
We   are  apt  to  think,  even  of  his  childhood,  as  sol- 


98  Ediuards  Memorial. 

emn,  dignified,  and  stately,  like  those  after-years  when 
he  was  contending  for  the  truth  in  Northampton,  or 
writing  his  great  works  here  in  Stockbridge.  But 
there  is  no  good  reason,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  for 
supposing  that  he  did  not  have  the  playful  element 
in  him  ;  that  he  was  not  a  boy  among  boys  ;  that 
there  was  not,  in  short,  a  large  out-door  kingdom 
with  great  and  pressing  interests,  in  which  he  took 
the  keenest  delight.  But,  however  this  may  be,  we 
know  well  that  these  wild  woodlands  must  have  been 
familiar  to  Edwards  from  his  early  years.  His  love 
of  Nature  and  his  kindling  imagination  would  have 
led  him  thither,  if  there  were  no  partridges  or  rabbits 
to  be  caught.  He  would  be  there  to  feel  the  soft 
influences  of  the  shadows  ;  to  catch  the  notes  of  the 
different  woodland  birds,  and  learn  their  habits  ;  to 
be  acted  upon  by  all  the  sights  and  sounds  of  what 
was  then  well-nigh  the  primeval  forest.  What  we 
may  call  the  poetic  faculty  was  present  in  him  in  large 
measure.  Many  passages  in  his  earlier  and  later  life 
abundantly  attest  this.  When  he  gave  reins  to  his 
imagination,  when  he  let  his  fancy  loose  to  play  upon 
the  winds,  it  was  seen  that  he  could  easily  have  taken 
wide  and  lofty  flights  in  this  ideal  realm. 

In  men  like  him,  where  the  reasoning  and  logical 
powers  are  in  such  massive  proportions,  and  where  the 
life  naturally  turns  toward  \\\q. philosophical  rather  than 
the  ideal,  we  easily  lose  sight  of  that  creative  element 
of  imagination  which  is  kept  so  constantly  in  the 
background,  and  used  only  in  the  service  of  the  other 
powers.  If  Edwards  had  not  been  the  great  meta- 
physician of  America,  if  another  bent  and  direction 
had   early   been   given   to  his  mind,  he   might  have 


Edivards  Memorial. 


99 


proved  the  Milton  of  this  new  world,  and  sung  songs 
which  would  have  been  immortal. 

That  he  loved  Nature,  and  looked  upon  her  both  with 
the  aesthetic  and  philosophical  eye,  is  largely  attested. 
That  he  was  one  of  the  closest  observers  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  the  natural  world  is  made  clear  by  that 
remarkable  paper  on  the  habits  of  spiders,  written 
by  him,  as  is  supposed,  when  he  was  twelve  years 
of  age.  It  is  true,  the  exact  time  when  this  paper  was 
written  cannot  be  made  out  :  but  it  appears  by  all  the 
evidence  to  have  been  finished  before  his  entrance 
into  college  ;  and  this  took  place  in  September,  1 7 1 6,  — 
a  month  before  he  was  thirteen  years  old.  This  paper 
on  spiders  may  justly  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  won- 
ders of  literature.  It  would  be  difficult,  from  all  the 
centuries,  to  find  a  production,  written  by  a  child 
of  that  age,  showing  such  a  masterly  comprehen- 
sion of  a  difficult  subject  ;  such  close  and  delicate 
observation  ;  such  philosophical  arrangement,  and 
compass  of  thought.  Hear  a  few  of  the  opening 
sentences  : — 

"  There  are  some  things  that  I  have  happily  seen 
of  the  wondrous  way  of  the  working  of  the  spider. 
Although  every  thing  pertaining  to  this  insect  is 
admirable,  there  are  some  phenomena  relating  to 
them  more  particularly  wonderful.  Everybody  that 
is  used  to  the  country  knows  their  marching  in  the 
air  from  one  tree  to  another,  sometimes  to  the  dis- 
tance of  five  or  six  rods.  Nor  can  one  go  out  in  a 
dewy  morning  in  the  latter  end  of  August  and  the 
beginning  of  September  but  he  shall  see  multitudes 
of  webs,  made  visible  by  the  dew  that  hangs  on  them, 
reaching  from  one  tree,  branch,  or  shruli,  to  anolher: 


lOO  Edivards  Memorial. 

which  webs  are  commonly  thought  to  be  made  in  the 
night,  because  they  appear  only  in  the  morning ; 
whereas  none  of  them  are  made  in  the  night,  as  these 
spiders  never  come  out  in  the  night  when  it  is  dark, 
as  the  dew  is  then  falling.  But  these  webs  may  be 
seen  well  enough  in  the  day-time  by  an  observing 
eye,  by  their  reflection  in  the  sunbeams.  Especially 
late  in  the  afternoon  may  these  webs,  that  are  between 
the  eye  and  that  part  of  the  horizon  that  is  under  the 
sun,  be  seen  very  plainly,  being  advantageously  pos- 
ited to  reflect  the  rays.  And  the  spiders  themselves 
may  be  very  often  seen  travelling  in  the  air,  from  one 
stage  to  another  amongst  the  trees,  in  a  very  unac- 
countable manner.  But  I  have  often  seen  that  which 
is  much  more  astonishing.  In  very  calm  and  serene 
days  in  the  fore-mentioned  time  of  year,  standing  at 
some  distance  behind  the  end  of  a  house  or  some 
other  opaque  body,  so  as  just  to  hide  the  disk  of  the 
sun  and  keep  off  his  dazzling  rays,  and  looking  along 
close  by  the  side  of  it,  I  have  seen  a  vast  multitude 
of  little  shining  webs  and  glistening  strings  brightly 
reflecting  the  sunbeams,  and  some  of  them  of  great 
length,  and  of  such  a  height  that  one  would  think 
they  were  tacked  to  the  vault  of  the  heavens." 

He  then  goes  on  and  explains  the  whole  law  and 
mechanism  of  these  movements  in  a  way  which,  for 
any  one  of  any  age,  would  be  thought  original  and 
striking,  but,  for  a  boy  of  twelve  years,  was  truly  mar- 
vellous. And  he  was  an  original  explorer  in  this 
field.  This  boy,  untaught  by  books,  unprompted  by 
others,  saw  and  comprehended  what  none  before  him 
had  seen,  and  what  few  now  have  the  eye  to  see,  even 
though  the  whole  process  has  been  described. 


Edwards  Memorial.  loi 

A  gentleman  who  lives  near  where  the  old  Edwards 
house  stood,  told  me,  this  summer,  that  he  had  from 
time  to  time  tried  this  experiment  in  these  later 
years,  and  had  seen  the  same  thing  going  on  upon 
that  spot  which  this  boy  saw  as  an  original  discov- 
erer a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  He  says,  more- 
over, that  the  broad  meadow-lands  of  the  Connecticut 
are  peculiarly  prolific  in  this  insect-life  ;  and,  from  the 
position  of  the  land,  —  falling  off  as  it  does  down  to 
the  west,  only  a  little  way  from  where  the  Edwards 
mansion  was  placed,  —  the  position  in  the  afternoon 
sun  is  peculiarly  favorable  for  these  observations. 

And  the  beauty  of  it  all,  as  it  pertains  to  Edwards, 
is,  that,  while  he  was  doing  what  none  of  the  full-grown 
men  along  that  valley  had  ever  done  before,  he  seems 
not  to  be  aware  that  it  is  any  thing  unusual.  As  one 
reads  the  production,  he  might  infer  that  the  boy  who 
wrote  it  supposed  this  was  the  natural  occupation 
of  boys  of  twelve  years,  and  that  lads  generally  of  that 
age  were  doing  the  same  or  similar  things. 

There  are  many  more  trains  of  thought  which 
might  be  followed  out ;  but  we  must  close.  The  reli- 
gious life  of  Edwards  did  not  begin  until  some  years 
later  than  this.  Though  he  had  deep  religious  im- 
pressions in  his  early  childhood,  yet  he  did  not  claim 
for  himself  a  religious  character  until  after  his  gradu- 
ation. All  his  leanings  were,  from  the  first,  in  that 
direction  ;  and  he  seems  never  to  have  had  an  evil 
nature  to  contend  with. 

As  already  stated,  a  month  betbre  reaching  the 
age  of  thirteen  years,  we  see  him  entering  upon  his 
collegiate  course  at  Yale  College. 


I02  Edwards  Memorial. 

It  had  been  originally  arranged  that  the  college-life 
of  Edwards  should  be  made  the  subject  of  a  separate 
address  on  this  occasion  ;  but,  as  that  plan  is  not  to 
be  carried  out,  it  seems  proper  that  a  word  should  be 
said  at  this  point  about  this  portion  of  his  life.  At 
that  time,  Yale  College  was  in  its  infancy.  The  insti- 
tution was  only  sixteen  years  old  when  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards entered  it.  It  had  as  yet  no  settled  habitation, 
and  hardly  a  name.  It  was  wandering  about  the 
country  like  the  tabernacle  in  the  wilderness.  There 
was  an  old  New-England  custom,  still  lingering  in 
some  primitive  communities,  of  boarding  the  school- 
master around  the  district ;  but,  in  this  case,  the 
college  itself  was  boarded  around  the  district.  Some- 
times it  was  at  Milford,  sometimes  at  Wethersfield, 
sometimes  at  Saybrook,  sometimes  at  New  Haven  ;  or 
rather  it  seemed  sometimes  to  be  at  all  these  places 
at  once,  —  one  class  being  at  one  place,  and  another 
at  another.  The  question  where  it  should  be  finally 
located  was  fiercely  contested  ;  and  it  was  not  until 
near  the  close  of  Mr.  Edwards's  course  that  the  col- 
lege was  fixed  at  New  Haven. 

There  is  no  time  to  follow  out  this  college-life  in 
detail.  It  was  in  the  early  part  of  his  course  that  he 
first  read  "  Locke  on  the  Eluman  Understanding." 
He  read  it,  as  he  seems  to  have  read  every  thing  all 
his  life  long,  pen  in  hand,  ready  to  record  his  own 
thoughts  and  impressions.  The  writings  of  John 
Locke  have  not  usually  been  chosen  for  light  reading, 
even  by  adult  men  and  women  ;  his  works  do  not 
figure  largely  at  summer  watering-places  :  but  this 
boy  of  fourteen  years  read  this  work  of  Locke  as  one 
fascinated    and    spell-bound.      No   young   lady   this 


Edwards  Memorial. 


lO 


summer  has  risen  from  the  perusal  of  the  last  new 
novel  with  such  a  glow  of  enthusiasm  and  delight  as 
that  with  which  he  finished  this  book  in  the  year 
1717.  He  read  it  with  a  certain  forecasting  of  his 
own  great  destiny.  Without  affectation,  simply  as 
something  which  he  could  not  repress,  he  tells  how 
he  found  a  delight  in  the  contents  of  this  book,  such 
as  misers  feel  when  they  grasp  handfuls  of  gold  and 
silver. 

Toward  the  close  of  his  course  in  college,  Rector 
Cutler,  then  at  the  head  of  the  institution,  writes  a 
flattering  letter  to  Timothy  Edwards,  the  father,  tell- 
ing him  of  the  excellent  use  Jonathan  is  making 
of  his  time,  and  what  high  hopes  may  justly  be  enter- 
tained of  the  boy.  He  graduates  a  month  before  he 
is  seventeen.  His  birthday  fell  in  October  ;  and  the 
old  commencement  at  Yale  was  in  September.  Young 
men  graduated  at  college  in  those  days  earlier  in  life 
than  now.  The  course  of  study  was  not  so  extended. 
By  the  rules  of  our  colleges,  a  young  man  could  not 
now  get  through  his  course  as  young  as  Edwards 
then  was.  Still,  in  those  times,  it  was  very  rare  for 
students  to  graduate  before  they  were  eighteen  or 
twenty.  Cotton  Mather  graduated  at  Harvard,  if  we 
mistake  not,  at  fifteen  ;  and  there  are  individual 
cases  of  this  kind.  But  Timothy  Edwards,  as  we 
have  seen,  graduated  at  twenty-two  ;  and  the  average 
age  in  those  times  v/as  somewhere  between  the  father 
and  the  son.  We  leave  Jonathan  Edwards,  then, 
going  forth  from  the  walls  of  Yale  College  in  1720  for 
his  great  life-work. 


I04  Edzvards  Memorial. 

Prof.  Edwards  A.  Park  of  Andover  Seminary  was 
the  next  speaker.  He  chose  to  discuss  some  of  the 
characteristics  of  Edwards  as  a  thinker  and  preacher. 
This  he  did  with  his  usual  discrimination  and  ability. 

REMARKS 

liY    EDWARDS    A.    PARK,    D.D. 

Mr.  Chairman,  —  I  ought  not  to  make  any  remarks 
on  this  occasion  ;  for  I  have  but  recently  left  the  At- 
lantic steamboat,  and  have  become  so  wonted  to  the 
sea,  that  I  cannot  uniformly  believe  myself  to  be  on 
the  land.  I  have  had  no  time  to  write  my  remarks, 
and  can  only  console  myself  by  remembering,  that,  in 
the  later  years  of  his  life,  Prcs.  Edwards  was  accus- 
tomed to  speak  ex  tempore ;  and  his  later  manuscripts 
prove,  according  to  Mr.  Grosart,  "that  his  rule,  in 
the  proportion  of  ninety-five  to  a  hundred,  was  to 
jot  down  the  leading  thoughts  and  illustrations,  and 
trust  to  the  suggestions  of  the  moment "  for  all  be- 
sides. Perhaps,  then,  in  speaking  of  him,  I  may 
be  allowed  to  follow  his  example  of  extemporaneous 
speech. 

The  first  thought  suggested  to  me  by  this  assem- 
blage of  his  descendants  is  the  importance  of  a  family. 
God  has  not  made  the  angels  as  he  has  made  men, 
—  one  generation  depending  on  another.  He  has  di- 
vided our  race  into  tribes,  and  subdivided  the  tribes 
into  families  ;  and  one  family  preserves  and  transmits 
its  distinctive  character  from  age  to  age.  The  ocean 
is  not  one  mass  of  waters,  all  the  parts  of  which  are 
alike  in  their  influence  on  each  other  ;  but  there  are 
different  currents  in  the  sea,  and  the  waters  of  one 


Edwards  Memorial.  105 

latitude  receive  impulse  and  direction  from  the  waters 
of  another.  The  family  is  a  kind  of  Gulf  stream. 
There  are  several  of  Pres.  Edwards's  descendants 
who  have  exhibited  a  marked  resemblance  to  him. 
He  has  contributed  much  to  form  their  characters. 
So  there  are  several  of  his  ancestors  to  whom  he 
had  an  evident  likeness.  They  exerted  a  formative 
influence  upon  him.  The  traits  of  his  grandfather 
and  grandmother  Stoddard  are  conspicuous  in  him  ; 
so  were  those  of  his  father  and  mother  ;  and  there  is 
a  peculiar  resemblance  between  the  characteristics 
of  the  president  and  those  of  his  grandfather,  Richard 
Edwards  of  Hartford.  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  copy  of  a 
manuscript  in  the  handwriting  of  Rev.  Timothy  Ed- 
wards, the  president's  father,  which  is  entitled,  "  Some 
things  written  concerning  my  very  dear  and  honored 
father,  Mr.  Richard  Edwards,  late  of  Hartford,  de- 
ceased, who  departed  this  life  in  the  comfortable 
hopes  of  a  glorious  resurrection  to  life  again,  April 
20,  1 71 8,  on  a  sabbath  day,  about  singing-time  in  the 
forenoon  ;  aged,  according  to  his  own  account,  within 
about  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks  of  seventy-one,  or 
within  a  very  little  of  it  at  least."  The  style  of  the 
father  in  this  document  might  easily  be  mistaken  for 
the  style  of  the  son  ;  and  the  description  of  the  grand- 
father might  well  be  mistaken  for  the  description 
of  the  grandson.  When  we  read  the  controversial 
tracts  of  the  president,  and  hear  of  his  troubles  with 
his  parishioners,  we  can  say  of  him,  as  his  father  says 
of  Richard  Edwards,  "Another  thing  savoring  of  a 
religious,  Christian  spirit  in  him,  was  his  dealing  with 
his  neighbors,  as  there  might  be  occasion,  in  a  way 
of  friendly  and  Christian  admonition  ;  which  he  would 


io6  Edivards  Memorial. 

do  so  seriously,  mode'-ately,  lovingly,  and  wisely,  and 
sometimes  (the  case  calling  for  it)  in  a  very  close, 
heart-convincing,  and  affecting  manner.  And,  in- 
deed, as  there  were  but  few  that  could  do  this  duty 
so  well,  so  there  were  not  many  that  did  so  much  at 
it,  or  did  so  much  good  by  it,  as  I  have  reason  to 
think  he  did."  No  small  part  of  Pres.  Edwards's 
trouble  in  life  sprang  from  the  fact  that  he  was  plain- 
spoken  in  reproof,  and  "  did  so  imtcJi  at  it!'  Still,  no 
one  can  read  his  funeral-sermons  without  feeling  that 
what  Timothy  Edwards  says  of  Richard  may  also  be 
said  of  the  president  :  "  There  were  but  few,  at  least 
among  private  Christians,  that  could  apply  themselves 
so  pertinently,  pithily,  and  properly,  savorily  and 
suitably,  and  in  so  comprehensive  a  manner,  and 
that  both  for  direction  and  support  of  those  who  were 
in  affliction,  as  he  could."  [Here  the  speaker  read 
further  extracts  from  the  unpublished  manuscript  of 
Rev.  Timothy  Edwards.] 

Another  thought  suggested  by  this  gathering  of 
the  Edwards  family  is  tJie  coviprcJicnsiveness  of  Jus 
character  and  writings.  I  am  not  comparing  him  and 
his  works  to  the  Bible,  so  as  to  imply  that  they  re- 
semble it  in  all  respects  ;  but  they  have  in  one  respect 
a  likeness  to  it :  they  comprehend  a  large  variety  of 
elements  which  are  not  ordinarily  found  united.  The 
Bible  has  been  condemned  because  it  is  the  book  to 
which  the  partisans  of  differing  sects  and  schools 
make  their  appeal,  and  from  which  they  profess  to 
derive  support.  How  can  it  be  harmonious  with  itself, 
when  it  seems  to  favor  so  many  conflicting  opinions  } 
Still  it  is  a  self-consistent  volume,  although  men  of 
diverse  methods  of  thinking  claim  it  in  their  favor. 


Edwards  Memorial.  107 

All  Christian  sects  and  Christian  schools  have  some 
elements  of  truth  and  right  in  them  ;  and  the  Bible 
contains  all  the  elements  of  truth  and  right  to  which 
these  contending  parties  are  attached.  It  is  not  a  one- 
sided book  ;  is  not  shaped  after  any  one  human  stan- 
dard. But  every  human  standard  is  in  a  greater  or 
smaller  degree  one-sided  ;  and  its  advocates  appeal  to 
that  part  of  the  Bible  which  favors  more  or  less  their 
one  side.  The  character  and  writings  of  Pres.  Ed- 
wards make  an  approach  to  the  consistent  many-sided- 
ness of  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  They  contain  ele- 
ments to  which  differing  classes  of  partisans  appeal, 
and  from  which  they  seem  to  draw  strength  ;  yet  they 
harmonize  with  each  other  well  enough  to  form  a  dis- 
tinct system. 

There  are  metaphysical  preachers  who  crowd  into 
their  sermons  logical  statements  and  philosophical 
discussions.  When  these  men  are  reprimanded  for 
their  abstract  trains  of  thought,  they  refer  to  Edwards 
as  a  metaphysical  preacher.  They  are  half  right  ;  for 
he  was  a  metaphysical  preacher  in  some  particulars. 
Still  he  did  not,  like  many  of  the  old  English  divines, 
burden  his  discourses  with  formal  syllogisms  and 
scholastic  technicalities.  In  the  general,  his  sermons 
were  plain  enough  to  be  understood  by  his  auditors. 
They  did  contain  the  skeleton  of  logic  ;  but  it  was 
covered  with  muscles,  veins,  and  arteries.  He  did 
not  wear  his  bones  on  the  outside  of  him. 

There  are  other  preachers  who  are  fervid  in  their 
appeals,  and  passionate  in  their  exhortations.  They 
are  condemned  as  too  emotional  ;  perhaps  too  severe 
in  their  denunciations  of  sin,  and  their  threatenings 
oi  i)unishnicnt.     When  thus  condemned,  they  a[)peai 


io8  Edzvards  Alnnorial. 

to  Edwards  as  an  exciting  preacher,  terrific  in  his  in- 
vectives, overwhehning  in  his  descriptions  of  coming 
woe.  It  has  been  reported  of  him,  that,  on  one  occa- 
sion at  least,  he  could  not  be  heard  by  his  congrega- 
tion on  account  of  the  sobs  and  cries  of  those  whom 
he  had  alarmed  by  his  impassioned  utterances.  Now, 
it  is  true  that  he  was  a  fervid  preacher :  he  did  work 
on  the  passions  of  men.  Still  he  did  not  address  the 
feelings  until  he  had  addressed  the  judgment  of  his 
hearers.  He  was  not  rhapsodical,  nor  technically 
philosophical,  as  a  preacher ;  but  he  was  one  of  the 
first  American  divines  who  united  the  results  of  phil- 
osophical study  with  a  warm,  evangelical  spirit. 
Hence  his  sermons  were  instructive  as  well  as  ex- 
citing :  they  were  not  the  alcohol  distilled  from  the 
wheat ;  but  they  were  the  wheat  penetrated  with  the 
alcohol,  nourishing  as  well  as  stimulating. 

There  are  ministers  who  have  a  nice  sense  of  cleri- 
cal dignity,  a  scrupulous  regard  for  the  rights  of  an 
established  pastor.  They  contend  that  a  clergyman, 
when  ordained  over  a  church,  is  the  president  of  that 
church,  and  the  bishop  of  the  parish  connected  with 
it  ;  and  no  other  clergyman  has  a  right  to  interfere 
with  his  diocese.  They  appeal  to  Edwards  as  a  man 
of  rare  personal  and  official  dignity,  a  pastor  on  whose 
clerical  prerogative  other  pastors  would  hardly  ven- 
ture to  intrench.  This  appeal  is,  in  many  respects, 
just.  He  was  a  man  of  rare  elevation  of  character. 
Men  did  approach  him  with  a  kind  of  awe.  He 
labored  to  maintain  the  rights  of  pastors.  He  con- 
demned the  extravagances  of  Davenport  and  other 
fanatical  preachers.  In  no  small  degree  are  we  in- 
debted to  him  for  whatever  now  remains  of  the  irood 


Edwards  Mc7noriaL  109 

order  of  the  churches  and  the  stability  of  the  pastoral 
relation.  But  he  was  not  so  stiff  as  to  be  unbending: 
in  his  determination  to  sustain  the  clergy.  When  he 
was  convinced  that  the  welfare  of  "  being  in  general " 
required  him  to  oppose  his  ministerial  brethren,  he 
did  oppose  them.  He  knew  that  his  opposition  would 
imperil  his  own  interests  ;  but  he  consented  to  en- 
counter the  peril  for  the  sake  of  promoting  the  gen- 
eral good. 

There  are  other  ministers  who  regard  it  their  duly 
to  break  over  parish  lines  and  to  break  through  parish 
usages.  They  will  preach  to  a  community  having  an 
ordained  pastor  who  not  only  does  not  invite  them, 
but  positively  refuses  to  see  or  tolerate  them.  They 
will  plant  and  harrow  and  reap  in  fields  belonging  to 
husbandmen  who  insist  on  doing  their  own  work. 
They  are  often  the  means  (perhaps  unintentional) 
of  expelling  pastors  from  their  pulpits,  and  of  intro- 
ducing confusion  into  the  community.  They  claim 
the  authority  of  Edwards  for  their  readiness  to  preach 
the  gospel  in  season  or  out  of  season,  in  compliance 
with  the  will,  or  in  defiance  of  the  command,  of  regu- 
lar pastors.  He  sympathized  with  many  of  the  sepa- 
ratists. He  encouraged  Whitefield,  who  was  the 
occasion  of  dividing  churches  and  upturning  old  es- 
tablishments. The  innovations  of  the  "  New  Lights," 
however,  so  far  as  they  were  sanctioned  at  all  by 
Pres.  Edwards,  were  sanctioned  with  extreme  reluc- 
tance, and  as  the  results  of  extreme  necessity.  The 
churches  had  declined  so  far  from  their  primiti\'e 
faithfulness,  that  new  measures  were  needed  for  the 
new  exigency.  He  did  not  favor  the  extravagances 
attending  those  measures  ;  but  he  felt  compelled   to 


no  Edwards  Manorial. 

advocate  the  principle  out  of  which  those  extrava- 
gances needlessly  sprang.  He  did  more,  perhaps, 
than  any  other  American  divine  in  promoting  the 
doctrinal  purity,  and  at  the  same  time  quickening 
the  zeal,  of  the  churches  ;  in  restraining  them  from 
fanaticism,  and  at  the  same  time  stimulating  them  to 
a  healthy  enthusiasm.  His  writings  were  in  his  own 
day,  and  are  in  our  day,  a  kind  of  classic  authority  for 
discriminating  between  the  warmth  of  sound  health 
and  the  heat  of  a  fever.  He  did  not  remain  station- 
ary, like  the  centre  of  a  circle :  he  moved  in  an 
orbit  not  eccentric,  but  well-rounded  and  complete. 

Pres.  Samuel  Davies  made  the  most  strenuous 
effort  to  secure  the  services  of  Pres.  Edwards  for  the 
State  of  Virginia,  after  he  had  been  dismissed  from 
Northampton.  In  a  letter  dated  Hanover,  July  4,  175  i, 
Dr.  Davies  thus  writes  to  Dr.  Joseph  Bellamy:  "I  as- 
sure myself,  dear  sir,  of  your  most  zealous  concur- 
rence to  persuade  him  to  [come  to]  Virginia.  Do  not 
send  liim  a  cold,  paper  message,  but  go  to  him  yourself 
in  person.  If  he  be  not  as  yet  engaged  to  any  place,  I 
depend  upon  your  word,  and  make  no  doubt  but  he 
will  come.  If  he  is  engaged,  I  hope  he  may  be  regu- 
larly dismissed  upon  a  call  of  so  great  importance. 
Of  all  the  men  I  know  in  America,  he  appears  to  me 
the  most  fit  for  this  place  ;  and,  if  he  could  be  ob- 
tained on  no  other  condition,  I  would  cheerfully  resign 
him  my  place,  and  cast  myself  into  the  wide  world 
once  more.  Fiery,  superficial  ministers  will  never  do 
in  these  parts  :  they  might  do  good  ;  but  they  would 
do  much  more  harm.  We  need  the  deep  judgment 
and  calm  temper  of  Mr.  Edwards  among  us.  Even 
the  dissenters  here  [Lunenburg]  have  the  nicest  taste 


Edwards  Memo7'ial.  1 1 1 

of  almost  any  congregation  I  know,  and  cannot  put 
up  with  even  the  truths  of  the  gospel  in  an  injudi- 
cious form.  The  enemies  are  watchful,  and  some 
of  them  crafty,  and  raise  a  prodigious  clamor  about 
raving,  injudicious  preaching.  Mr.  Edwards  would 
suit  them  both." 

On  an  occasion  like  the  present,  it  may  seem  unfit 
to  introduce  any  topic  on  which  the  descendants  of 
Pres.  Edwards  may  differ  among  themselves,  either 
in  opinion  or  feeling.  They  belong  to  differing 
schools  in  theology  :  still  they  are  equally  enthusiastic 
in  their  veneration  for  him.  They  meet  on  the 
ground  where  he  preached,  and  in  the  house  where 
he  lived  ;  and  no  one  party  exceeds  the  other  in  ex- 
pressing reverence  for  him.  Therefore,  perhaps,  there 
may  be  no  harm  in  simply  hinting  at  his  relation  to 
the  advocates  of  the  "old  divinity"  and  of  the 
"  new."  There  are  old-school  divines  who  claim  him 
as  their  patron  :  and  they  have  some  right  to  do  so  ; 
for  he  did  cling  to  some  of  their  distinctive  tenets. 
There  are  also  new-school  men  who  claim  him  ;  and 
there  is  some  truth  in  their  pretension  that  he  favored 
their  views.  He  did  adopt  certain  theories  which  are 
the  germ  of  what  is  called  the  "new  theology."  He 
started  certain  trains  of  thought,  which,  when  consist- 
ently followed  out,  form  the  new-school  system.  He 
was  an  original  thinker.  He  does  not  coincide  with 
either  of  the  two  parties  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other. 
He  is  broad  enough  to  reach  into  both  parties. 
When  I  was  in  the  pastoral  office,  one  of  my  near 
neighbors  was  Rev.  Dr.  Codman  of  Dorchester.  He 
was  a  man  of  large  wealth,  of  genial  manners,  and  a 
decided  adherent  to  the  old  school  in  theology.     He 


112 


Edivar^ds  Memorial. 


owned  two  excellent  horses.  One  of  them  was  large, 
majestic,  and  was  noted  for  its  stately  trot :  this 
horse  the  doctor  named  "  Old  School."  The  other 
was  nimble,  spirited,  and  drove  ahead  with  great  fleet- 
ness  :  this  he  named  "  New  School."  He  was  wont 
to  say,  "  When  I  wish  to  visit  the  gentry  of  my  par- 
ish, and  ride  through  the  streets  with  dignity,  I  take 
'  Old  School  ;'  but  when  I  am  in  haste  to  visit  a  sick 
man,  or  to  transact  some  urgent  business,  and  must 
ride  fast  at  the  risk  of  losing  my  hat,  then  I  take 
'  New  School'  "  Now,  Pres.  Edwards  could  not  be 
called  by  the  farmers  either  a  "  nigh-horse "  or  an 
"  off-horse,"  but  would  rather  be  called  a  complete 
span  in  himself,  —  "a  whole  team." 

Pres.  Edwards  combined  the  abstract  habits  of  a 
philosopher  with  the  practical  tendencies  of  a  pastor. 
He  interested  great  minds.  Robert  Hall  says,  "  I 
consider  Jonathan  Edwards  the  greatest  of  the  sons 
of  men.  He  ranks  with  the  brightest  luminaries 
of  the  Christian  Church,  not  excluding  any  country 
or  any  age,  since  the  apostolic."  Sir  James  Mackin- 
tosh says  of  Edwards,  "This  remarkable  man,  tlie 
metaphysician  of  America.  .  .  .  His  power  of  subtle 
argument,  perhaps  lunnatc/ied,  certainly  itnsitrpassed, 
aviong  men,  was  joined,  as  in  some  of  the  ancient 
mystics,  with  a  character  which  raised  his  piety  to 
fervor."  Robert  Morehead  says,  "  Edwards  comes 
nearer  Bishop  Butler,  as  a  philosophical  divine,  than 
any  other  theologian  with  whom  we  are  acquainted." 
I  was  once  riding  with  an  eminent  author  and  states- 
man, who  has  held  high  offices  under  our  national 
government  ;  was  an  ardent  friend  of  Gen.  Jackson, 
and  an  advocate  of  his  policy  ;    and,  withal,  a  great 


Edwards  Memorial.  1 1 3 

admirer  of  Pres.  Edwards.  Happening  to  speak  of 
Edwards's  "  Treatise  on  the  Nature  of  True  Virtue," 
the  statesman  remarked,  "  I  regard  that  as  the  great- 
est ethical  treatise  in  the  Enghsh  language,  and  as 
the  real  foundation  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the 
United  States."  It  need  not  be  said  that  the  man 
who,  in  an  obscure  New-England  parish,  wrote  such 
treatises  as  called  forth  the  encomiums  of  Lord 
Kaimes,  Dugald  Stewart,  Sir  William  Hamilton, — 
three  philosophers  who  are  known  to  have  carefully 
studied  these  treatises,  —  must  have  been  habitually 
absorbed  in  thought.  While  we  are  in  Stockbridge, 
we  visit  the  room  which  is  called  his  "  study  ; "  but,  in 
fact,  his  "study"  was  wherever  he  went.  As  he 
walked'  in  the  groves,  or  rode  along  the  streams,  he 
was  meditating  on  great  subjects  ;  and  would  often 
stop  to  write  down  his  new  thoughts,  and  pin  the 
paper  containing  them  upon  his  coat.  I  have  heard 
one  of  his  grandsons  say,  that,  on  one  occasion,  Mr. 
Edwards  rode  on  horseback  to  his  pasture  for  his 
cows  ;  and,  when  he  came  near  the  bars  of  his  pasture, 
a  small  boy  ran  to  them,  and  let  them  down  for  him. 
As  the  minister  was  riding  over  the  bars,  he  bowed 
to  the  boy,  and  asked,  "  Whose  boy  are  you  .-* "  — 
"John  Clark's' boy,"  was  the  answer.  Mr.  Edwards 
soon  came  back,  driving  his  cows  before  him.  The 
boy  stood  ready  to  put  up  the  bars,  and  took  off  his 
hat  as  the  pastor  drew  near.  "  Whose  boy  are  you  .'* " 
was  the  question  asked  the  second  time  ;  and  the 
answer  came,  "  The  same  man's  boy  that  I  was  five 
minutes  ago."  This  incident  shows  how  absorbed 
Mr.  Edwards  was  in  his  studies,  and  how  abstracted 
from  the  world.     Still  he  was  a  preacher  to  the  poor, 


114  Edzvards  Memorial. 

and  "  the  common  people  heard  him  gladly."  He  took 
a  deep  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  parishioners  and 
in  the  details  of  their  daily  life.  He  preached  not 
only  on  their  high  spiritual  duties,  but  on  their 
"  minor  morals  "  and  small  proprieties.  I  will  read  a 
few  extracts  from  one  of  his  sermons  preached  to  the 
people  of  Northampton,  and  recently  printed  in  Rev. 
Mr.  Grosart's  interesting  volume.  Like  many  of  his 
other  sermons,  it  was  never  written  out  in  full  ;  and  his 
manuscript  contains  merely  the  prominent  divisions, 
and  a  few  bold  hints  of  the  manner  in  which  they  were 
filled  up.  His  text  is  i  Pet.  iii.  19,  20,  He  closes 
his  sermon  with  various  practical  "  directions."  One 
of  them  is  the  necessity  of  avoiding  "  pride  and  ex- 
travagance in  apparel."  Under  this  head  he  re- 
marks, — 

•  "Not  that  I  condemn  all  adorning  the  body.  'Tis 
evident  by  Scripture  that  some  moderate  degree 
of  this  is  lawful.  Oil  that  makes  his  face  to  shine 
(Eccles.  ix.  8  ;  Matt.  vi.  17  ;  Prov.  xxxi.  21,  22  ;  Exod. 
iii.  22).  But  yet  'tis  apparent  that  there  is  a  most 
sinful  extravagance  in  this  kind  (i  Tim.  ii.  9  ;  i  Pet. 
iii.  3,  4;  Isa.  iii.  16,  18,  &c.).  Appears  to  be  very 
provoking  to  God  .  .  .  when  persons  go  beyond 
their  rank.  One  end  of  apparel  seems  to  be  to  dis- 
tinguish (Prov.  xxxi.  22,  23)  ;  common  people  to 
show  an  affectation  to  be  like  those  of  high  rank  ; 
country  towns  to  affect  to  be  like  the  metropolis.  — 
When  they  go  beyond  their  estate,  disable  themselves 
from  paying  their  debts  ;  deprive  themselves  of  other 
things  more  necessary  and  more  profitable  ;  disable 
themselves  much  from  deeds  of  charity.  An  aflecta- 
tion  to  distinguish  themselves  in  imitating  the  fash- 


Edwards  Memorial.  115 

ions  of  the  more  gay  part  of  the  world.  Complying 
with  the  general  customs  of  a  country  in  clothing  is 
not  vulgar  :  on  the  contrary,  'tis  not  decent  to  be 
singular.  But  some  fashions  in  themselves  are  ill, 
.  .  .  extravagant,  .  .  .  very  costly,  .  .  .  immodest.  .  .  . 
"  All  this  care  and  pains  and  cost  to  adorn  them- 
selves show  persons  to  much  affect  outward  orna- 
ment ;  .  .  .  seem  to  show  that  they  make  much  of 
themselves  ;  ...  all  that  which  tends  to  encourage  a 
general  excess.  Such  things  as  these  have  been 
condemned  by  wise  men  of  all  nations. 

"  'Tis  a  time  when  the  nations  here  have  got  to  a 
vast  excess.  The  land  is  become  exceeding  extrava- 
gant ;  more  so  than  in  England,  in  proportion  to  our 
ability  and  ranks.  Prevents  great  good  that  might  be 
done  ;  ...  is  continually  running  in  debt.  The  main 
thing  that  brings  our  greatest  national  calamities,  .  .,  . 
particularly  the  present  state  the  country  is  in  with 
regard  to  a  medium  [currency] ;  and  is  the  main  source 
of  that  general  injustice  that  has  been  so  long  com- 
plained of  .  .  .  Keeps  the  country  in  constant  dis- 
tress. .  .  .  Maintains  constant  injustice.  .  .  .  Threat- 
ens us  with  ruin.  .  .  .  We  in  this  town  [Northamp- 
ton] are  evidently  got  to  a  great  excess.  Boston  is 
extravagant  beyond  London  ;  and  we,  considering 
all  things,  I  think  beyond  them.  .  .  .  How  far  below 
we  fall  short  in  rank,  .  .  .  state,  .  .  .  education,  and 
our  situation  in  the  world,  ...  far  beyond  them  ! 

"  I  had  occasion  to  observe  the  people  at  Portsmouth 
in  both  the  congregations  in  that  place.  That  is  a 
place  very  much  famed  for  politeness,  and  is  a  city 
much  like  Boston  in  many  respects.  I  judged  the 
apparel    of    our    congregation    was    fully    as    costly. 


ii6  Edwards  Memorial. 

Many  things  that  might  make  it  proper  for  them  to  go 
beyond  us." 

This  "brief"  of  Pres.  Edwards  is  important  as  illus- 
trating not  merely  his  method  of  preparing  his  dis- 
courses for  the  pulpit,  but  also  his  boldness  in  reproof; 
for  "  he  did  much  at  it."  We  hear  of  his  theological 
peculiarities,  of  the  Half-way  Covenant,  as  the  cause 
of  his  dismission  from  Northampton.  But  a  pastor  is 
almost  sure  to  incur  the  peril  of  dismission  if  he  make 
his  theology  so  practical  as  to  reach  the  bonnets  of 
his  people  :  then  his  "  usefulness  is  at  an  end."  Ab- 
stract doctrines  are  comparatively  inoffensive. 

Another  of  Mr.  Edwards's  manuscripts  contains 
the  heads  of  a  sermon  which  he  delivered  to  the 
Indians  at  Stockbridge.  It  will  be  seen,  that,  in  these 
brief  hints  of  his  train  of  thought,  he  has  condensed 
an  elaborate  system  of  reasoning  in  favor  of  the 
Bible  as  a  book  having  divine  authority.  The  rough 
notes  which  he  has  left  of  his  argument  betray  his 
interest  in  scientific  theology,  and  also  in  the  welfare 
of  the  savages,  to  whom  he  accommodated  his  scien- 
tific discussion.  I  will  read  a  few  extracts  from  this 
pulpit  sketch  :  they  are  taken  from  Mr.  Grosart's  vol- 
ume :  — 

2  Tim.  iii.  16  :  "  All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God." 
Doctrine  :  The  Scripture  is  the  word  of  God. 

I.    There  imist  be  some  ivord  of  God. 

'Tis  unreasonable  to  think  that  God  would  always  keep  silence,  and 
never  say  any  thing  to  mankind. 

God  has  made  mankind,  and  given  him  reason  and  understanding. 

Has  made  him  the  chief  of  all  the  creatures. 

Given  him  reason,  that  he  might  know  God  and  serve  him. 

Did  not  give  the  other  creatures  reason  :  he  did  make  'em  to  serve 
him. 


Edwards  Memorial.  1 1 7 

Other  creatures  are  made  for  man. 

Man  was  made  for  God,  to  serve  God  ;  or  else  he  was  made  for 
nothing. 

But  we  may  be  sure  he  did  not  make  sucli  a  creature  as  man  for 
nothing. 

But  how  unreasonable  is  it  to  think  that  God  would  make  us  for 
himself,  and  never  say  any  thing  to  us  ! 

God  is  the  King  that  rules  over  all  nations. 

But  how  unreasonable  is  it  to  suppose  that  he  should  be  a  King, 
and  never  say  any  thing  to  his  subjects  ;  ...  be  a  King,  and  never  tell 
them  what  his  will  or  what  his  commands  are,  that  his  subjects  may 
obey  him  ! 

Is  as  a  Father  :  all  his  family. 

But  will  a  father  be  always  dumb  and  silent,  &c.  ? 

God  has  given  mankind  speech  ;  so  that  they  are  able  to  speak,  and 
make  known  their  minds  to  one  another. 

And  therefore  'tis  unreasonable  to  think  that  God  never  would  speak 
to  men,  and  make  known  his  mind  to  them. 

II.  Another  thing  that  shows  that  the  Scriptures  are  the  word  of 
God  is  this  :  — 

That,  when  God  told  the  wise  and  holy  men  to  write  the  Bible,  he 
gave  "" em.  power  to  -work  great  miracles,  to  convince  men  that  it  was  his 
work. 

III.  Another  thing  that  shows  the  Scriptures  to  be  the  word  of 
God  is,  that  the  Scripture  FORETELLS  a  great  many  things. 

The  Old  Testament,  that  was  given  to  the  Jews  a  great  while  before 
Christ  was  born,  foretold  Christ's  coming. 

And  a  great  many  things  concerning  him,  —  all  which  are  FUL- 
FILLED. 

The  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament  foretell  a  great  many  things  : 
...  all  came  to  pass. 

IV.  Another  thing  that  shows  that  the  Scripture  is  the  word  of 
God  is  this  :  — 

That  the  Scripture  has  been  the  means  of  enlightening  so  many  nations. 

V.  Another  thing  that  shows  [it  is] 

.  .  .   Great  opposition.:  the  Devil  and  wicked  men  make  against  it. 

VI.  Another  thing  that  shows  [that  it  is]  the  word  of  God  is  this  : 
It  has  prevailed  agaittst  such  great  opposition. 

VII.  Another  thing:  No  other  luord  eiier  was  nsed  as  the  means  of 
bringing  men  to  k?tow  the  true  God  but  the  Scriptures. 


1 1 8  Ediuards  Memorial. 

Where  the  Scriptures  have  come,  there  has  been  light :  all  the  rest 
of  the  world  has  remained  in  darkness.     So  'tis  now  all  over  the  world. 

VIII.  Another  thing  that  shows  [it]  is  this  :  No  man  could  make  such 
a  book  as  the  Bible. 

It  must  be  made  by  wicked  men  or  good  men.  .  .  .  Wicked  men 
woLdd  not  make  it :  good  men  could  not. 

IX.  Another  thing  :  No  book  reaches  the  hearts  of  men  so  much. 
A'o  word  so  AWAKEXS  Ihe  conscience.  No  word  is  so  powerful  to  change 
the  heart.     Great  many  have  been  made  '  new  men  :  '  very  wicked  men. 

No  word  so  powerful  to  comfort  the  hearts  of  men  ...  in  death, 
.  .  .  cruel  deaths. 

X.  Another:  Good  men  all  love  the  Bible.  Better  they  are,  the  more 
they  love  it,  .  ,  .  the  more  they  are  convinced  that  it  is  the  word  of 
God.     The  more  wicked  men  [arc],  the  more  they  are  against  it. 

Application  :  — 

1.  How  thankful  we  should  be  to  God  !  .  .  . 

2.  Hence  we  may  learn  that  all  the  Scripture  says  to  us  is  certainly 
true. 

3.  Hence  'tis  worth  the  while  to  take  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  learn 
to  read  and  understand  the  Scriptures. 

I  would  have  you,  all  of  you,  think  of  this. 

When  there  is  such  a  book  that  you  may  have,  how  can  you  be  con- 
tented without  being  able  to  read  it? 

How  does  it  make  you  feci  when  you  think  there  is  a  book  that  is 
God's  own  word  .''    That  tells  .  .  . 

Ancl  you  think  with  yourself  that  you  are  not  able  to  read  it.  .  .  . 
See  and  think  about  it.  All  that  you  know  is  only  what  others  tell  you  : 
.  .  .  see  nothing  with  your  own  eyes. 

Especially  I  would  have  you  that  are  y  jung  people  take  notice  of 
these  things. 

Parents  should  take  care^  that  their  children  learn.  .  .  . 

This  will  be  the  way  to  be  kept  from  the  Devil.  .  .  .  Devil  can't 
bear  [the  Bible].     Kept  from  hell.     To  be  happy  forever. 

But  if  you  let  the  word  of  God  alone,  and  never  use,  and  you  can't 
e.xpect  the  benefits  of  it  .  .  . 

You  must  not  only  hear  and  read,  &c.,  but  you  must  have  it  sunk 
down  into  your  heart.  Believe.  Be  affected.  Love  the  word  of  God. 
Written  in  your  heart. 

Must  not  only  read  and  hear,  but  do  the  tilings.  Otherwise  no 
good,  but  will  be  the  worse  for  it. 


Ediuards  Memorial.  119 

And  you  should  endeavor  to  understand.  To  that  end,  to  Icara  llie 
English  tongue. 

If  you  had  the  Bible  in  yoiu'  own  language,  I  should  not  say  so 
much. 

Endeavor  to  promote  your  children's  learning  English. 

You  that  can  read  should  often  read,  .  .  .  meditate,  .  .  .  pray  that 
God  would  enlighten  you. 

Consider  how  much  it  is  worth  the  while  to  go  often  to  your  Jiible 
to  hear  the  great  God  himself  speak  to  you. 

There  you  may  hear  Christ  speak. 

How  much  better  must  we  think  this  is  than  the  word  of  men  !  — 
l:)etter  than  the  word  of  the  wisest  man  of  the  world. 

Another  thought  suggested  by  the  occasion  of  this 
gathering  is  the  patience  and  perseverance  of  Pres. 
Edwards  in  the  attainment  of  one  great  object.  A 
prominent  aim  of  his  Hfe  was  to  combine  a  bibhcal 
theology  with  a  sound  philosophy.  In  order  to  fulfil 
this  aim,  he  must  devote  himself  to  abstruse  study. 
But  he  was  perplexed  with  the  controversies  of  his 
parishioners,  and  was  sometimes  obliged  to  strug- 
gle with  poverty.  Many  would  not  have  blamed 
him  if  he  had  intermitted  his  recondite  studies,  and 
devoted  himself  to  the  maintenance  of  his  wife  and 
children,  —  his  wife,  that  truly  remarkable  woman; 
his  children,  some  of  whom  belonged  to  the  aristoc- 
racy of  talent.  But,  if  he  had  given  to  his  family 
"  what  was  meant  for  mankind,"  his  posterity  would 
not  now  have  met  to  honor  him.  He  was  compelled 
to  adopt  mortifying  expedients  for  the  preparation  of 
those  treatises  of  which  his  descendants  are  proud. 
He  could  not  afford  to  buy  clean  paper  for  writing 
down  his  valuable  thoughts  :  but  he  wrote  them  on 
the  margins  of  newspapers  ;  over  and  under  the  home- 
ly advertisements  ;  on  the  paper-patterns  which  his 
daughters  had  used  for  making  fans  and  collars,  which 


I20  Edwards  Memorial. 

they  sold  in  order  to  defray  the  family-expenses  ;  on 
the  blank  parts  of  the  "  notes  "  which  his  parishioners 
had  sent  up  to  his  pulpit  for  the  purpose  of  requesting 
prayer  in  their  behalf,  —  a  husband  requesting  "prayers 
for  the  death  of  his  wife."  (Here  the  speaker  exhib- 
ited several  newspapers  and  fan-patterns  on  which 
the  president  had  written  the  results  of  his  study  ; 
also  read  a  letter  of  Mr.  Edwards  to  Dr.  Bellamy,  so- 
liciting the  doctor's  aid  in  selling  a  few  sheep  of  which 
that  vigorous  theologian  had  taken  the  oversight.) 
There  is  something  morally  sublime  in  the  very  idea 
of  a  philosopher  writing  letters  to  a  divine  about  the 
sale  of  his  sheep,  making  his  home  in  a  valley  where 
he  expected  to  be,  as  he  was,  afflicted  with  the  "  fever 
and  ague,"  writing  without  the  conveniences  for  writ- 
ing, studying  without  the  fit  apparatus  for  studying, 
and  yet  having  a  genius  by  which  he  was  destined  to 
be  the  earliest  American  divine  whose  union  of  original 
and  evangelical  thoughts  was  destined  to  command 
the  reverence  of  European  scholars.  Dr.  Chalmers 
expressed  his  admiration  of  Edwards  viewed  as  devot- 
ing his  high  accomplishments  to  the  people  of  North- 
ampton :  how  much  greater  admiration  is  due  to  hmi 
viewed  as  consecrating  the  best  years  of  his  life  to 
the  red  men  of  the  wilderness,  among  whom  he  lived 
indigent,  and  often  an  invalid  !  Dr.  Chalmers  says, — 
"  Edwards  is  far  the  highest  name  which  the  new 
world  has  to  boast  of;  and,  if  aught  can  enhance  our 
reverence  for  the  achievements  by  which  he  distanced 
so  immeasurably  all  the  speculations  of  all  the  schools 
in  Europe,  it  must  be  that  his  was  an  achievement 
consecrated  by  the  deepest  spirit  of  religion,  and  per- 
formed by  a  man,  who,  almost  unconscious  of  science, 


Ediua7'ds  Memorial.  i  2 1 

or  at  least  unconscious  of  all  its  honors,  was  prompted 
to  the  task  which  he  fulfilled  so  admirably  by  his 
devotedness  to  the  cause  which,  as  a  Christian  min- 
ister, he  felt  to  be  the  nearest  and  best.  Thei-e  is, 
indeed,  a  striking  contrast  between  the  unlettered 
people  among  whom  he  labored  as  a  pastor,  and 
philosophers  whom,  as  an  author,  he  held  converse 
with  ;  and  something  most  touchingly  beautiful  in  the 
adaptation  that  he  made  of  himself  to  both,  giving  rise 
to  a  corresponding  contrast  between  the  plain  minis- 
trations of  his  sabbath  and  the  profound  musings  and 
inspirations  of  his  solitude." 

The  ministry  of  Edwards  at  Northampton  was  dis- 
cussed by  Rev.  Dr.  Todd  of  Pittsfield,  who  had,  as 
will  be  seen  by  his  address,  peculiar  fitness  for  the 
service. 

ADDRESS 

BY    REV.    lOUN   TODD,    D.D. 

When  a  young  student,  I  found  a  woman  among 
the  fevers  of  the  rice-swamps  of  South  Carolina  who 
amazed  and  confounded  me  by  her  knowledge  of  the- 
ology. She  was  so  far  above  me,  that  I  felt  myself  to 
be  nothing.  The  secret  was,  that  she  had  for  years 
lived  upon  the  works  of  Jonathan  Edwards. 

In  the  revival  in  Yale  College  in  1820,  under  the 
teachings  of  Asahel  Nettleton,  after  many  wrestlings 
of  the  spirit  and  intellect,  I  deliberately  adopted  the 
theology  of  this  master  in  Israel ;  and  have,  as  yet, 
never  grown  great  enough  or  wise  enough  to  change 
my  opinions.  A  little  later,  down  on  Cape  Cod,  I 
met  an   old   deacon,  who,   for  profound   and  accurate 


122  Edwards  Memorial. 

theology,  might  have  been  a  theological  professor,  and 
before  whom  I  fairly  stood  in  awe.  He  too,  for  years, 
had  lived  and  grown  upon  a  set  of  Edwards's  works. 

Afterwards  I  had  a  parishioner  who  had  read  Ed- 
wards "  On  the  Affections"  through  six  times  ;  and  he 
was  a  giant  in  theology. 

Afterwards  I  married  a  wife,  and  it  was  years  before 
I  found  out  what  made  her  so  much  my  superior  ;  but 
when  I  discovered  that  she  belonged  to  the  Edwards 
family,  and  that  she  had  their  blood  in  her  veins,  I 
gave  up  the  contest,  and  have  admitted  all  that  she 
demanded  ever  since. 

When  called  to  the  pastorate  of  an  infant  church  in 
Northampton,  I  found  most  of  my  flock  were  the 
descendants  of  those  who  had  been  Mr.  Edwards's 
fast  friends  through  all  his  troubles  there  ;  and  I  had 
the  honor  to  propose  to  them,  and  see  them  cheerfully 
assent,  that  we  should  call  the  church  "  The  Edwards 
Church," — a  perpetual  memorial  of  Edwards.  The 
council  which  organized  the  -church  objected  to  the 
name,  and  questioned  the  wisdom  of  it :  till  I  finally 
had  to  tell  them  that  we  submitted  our  creed  and 
covenant  for  their  diction  ;  but  the  name  of  the  church 
was  our  own,  and  that  we  did  not  submit. 

And  when  I  add  that  I  gave  the  name  of  Edwards 
to  a  son  now  in  the  ministry,  I  think  I  have  estab- 
lished my  claim  to  be  among  those  who  admire  the 
great  character  of  Edwards,  and  to  sit  among  those 
who  weave  garlands  to  lay  upon  his  tomb  this  day. 

Edwards  went  to  Northampton  fresh  from  :he  col- 
lege-walls, young,  and  with  no  experience  but  the  deep 
teachings  of  the  Spirit  upon  his  heart.  I  consider  the 
twenty-three  years  which  he  spent  in   Northampton 


Edwards  Memorial.  123 

as  the  most  important  period  of  his  Hfe.  He  settled 
with  his  grandfather  Stoddard,  a  name  widely  known, 
and  a  man  who  had  filled  a  long  and  successful  min- 
istry. 

The  grandfather,  and  the  people  trained  up  by 
him,  and  the  ministers  and  churches  generally  in  all 
the  region,  from  the  best  of  motives,  undoubtedly,  had 
fallen  into  a  sad  mistake  ;  and  that  was,  that  the 
ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  like  the  ordinary  sab- 
bath services,  was  to  be  used  as  a  means  of  grace,  and 
was  a  converting  ordinance.  And  thus  all  who  were 
not  openly  immoral  were  welcomed  to  the  Lord's 
table,  and  became  members  of  the  church.  This 
made  the  world  and  the  church  one  ;  or,  if  there  was 
any  line  of  demarcation  between  them,  it  was  not 
visible.  Edwards  seemed,  at  his  settlement,  to  have 
adopted  these  views  ;  or,  if  he  did  not  in  full,  he  made 
no  objection  to  them. 

It  was  here,  in  this  quiet  place,  that  he  became  the 
severe  student,  the  deep  thinker,  the  original  father 
of  thought,  which  has  made  him  a  marvel  among  men. 
For  thirteen  hours  a  day,  beginning  before  or  at  early 
dawn,  he  labored  in  the  quarries  of  Truth,  and  dug  out 
ore  which  smaller  men  have  been  using  ever  since. 
There  seem  to  have  been  no  brilliant  flashes  of  truth 
darting  into  his  soul  ;  but  he  had  the  power  of  lifting 
up  the  ore,  holding  it  up  to  the  sunlight,  separating  the 
dross  from  the  pure  metal,  and  then  forging  that  metal 
at  will.  Of  a  feeble,  nervous  temperament,  with 
spirits  always  low,  with  a  bodily  organization  exceed- 
ingly frail,  he  accomplished  an  amount  of  severe  study 
that  is  at  once  an  example  and  a  rebuke  to  all  who 
f()lk)W   him.      He    was,    in    the    popular   sense   of  the 


124  Edwards  Memorial. 

term,  no  orator  ;  yet  there  was  often  a  power  and 
impression  upon  his  hearers  that  has  probably  never 
been  exceeded.  He  held  up  his  little,  fine-written 
sermon,  and  read  it  off,  scarcely  taking  his  eyes 
off  the  paper ;  but,  before  the  hour-sermon  was 
through,  the  hand,  the  paper,  the  voice,  trembled 
together,  and  conviction  was  rolled  down  on  his  hear- 
ers, and  entered  their  hearts,  till  it  welled  up  again, 
and  ran  over  in  tears,  in  sobs,  and  sometimes  in  audi- 
ble groanings.  Perhaps  it  would  be  difficult  for  us  to 
say  wherein  his  great  j3ulpit  strength  lay.  It  was  not 
in  ornament,  tropes,  figures,  illustrations,  or  anec- 
dotes ;  for  he  moved  in  a  straight  line,  —  clear,  simple 
logic,  and  unanswerable  argument.  But  there  was  an 
unction,  a  savor  of  God,  about  the  man,  that  was  itself 
a  power.  He  went  up  into  the  mount  of  God  so 
often,  and  staid  so  long,  that  his  face  shone.  It  is 
among  the  traditions  of  the  place,  that  two  strangers 
stopped  over  the  sabbath  in  Northampton.  They 
were  greatly  prejudiced  against  Edwards,  and  were 
greatly  rejoiced  to  learn  that  he  was  expected  to  be 
out  of  town,  and  another  man  supply  his  pulpit. 
They  had  never  seen  Edwards.  On  the  morrow, 
they  sat  side  by  side.  The  preacher  went  through 
the  preliminary  services,  and  began  his  sermon. 
Soon  one  of  the  strangers  whispered  to  the  other, 
"  This  is  a  good  man."  A  little  after,  "  He  is  a  very 
good  man."  On  went  the  preacher,  and  again  the 
whisper,  "  Whoever  he  may  be,  he  is  a  holy  man." 
And  soon  again,  "  This  is  the  holiest  man  I  ever  saw 
or  heard."  I  hardly  need  add  that  it  was  Edwards 
himself  And  this  holiness,  deep  exercise  of  his  own 
heart,   together  with    communion   with    God,  was,    I 


Edwards  Manorial.  125 

apprehend,  one  source  of  his  great  power  as  a 
preacher. 

He  gave  himself,  simply,  wholly,  and  humbly,  to 
the  ministry.  And  the  name  of  Sarah  Pierrepont  Ed- 
wards, his  noble  wife,  a  great  specimen  of  exalted, 
almost  seraphic  piety,  of  great  intellectual  strength 
united  to  a  worldly  wisdom  hardly  inferior,  the  true 
nobility  of  our  nature,  is  destined  to  be  immortal.  She 
took  all  the  care  of  his  family  and  worldly  concerns, 
that  he  might  give  himself  wholly  to  his  work.  She 
was  a  great  specimen  of  a  thousand  New-England 
ministers'  wives,  —  true  helpers  in  the  Lord.  Our 
food  is  cooked  by  intelligence,  our  homes  are  j^resided 
over  and  made  tasteful,  our  friends  are  welcomed  and 
entertained,  our  children  are  trained  and  instructed, 
our  little  means  are  made  to  go  a  great  way,  our  fami- 
lies are  made  respectable,  our  charities  are  never 
stinted,  our  failings  are  concealed  and  covered  up,  our 
sluggishness  is  prompted  into  effort  and  action,  our 
usefulness  is  every  way  greatly  enhanced,  because  the 
angel  of  our  homes,  in  the  form  of  a  noble  wife,  ever 
forgetting  herself,  does  all  this  in  order  to  aid  us  to 
be  useful  to  our  people.  By  the  time  a  man  has  been 
in  the  ministry  twenty  years,  all  that  is  good  and 
great  in  his  wife  is  absorbed  and  woven  into  the 
character  of  the  husband,  leaving  the  wife  none  the 
poorer  ;  and,  whenever  I  have  found  a  man  especially 
successful  in  the  ministry,  I  have  always  found  a 
noble  wife  in  the  shadow  at  his  side.  Oh  !  "  many 
daughters  have  done  virtuously  ; "  but  "  thou,"  wife 
of  the  humble,  New-England  minister,  "hast  excelled 
them  all." 

It  has  been  a  wonder,  the  world  over,  how  I'^lwards 


126  Edwards  Memorial. 

could  shut  himself  up  in  his  little  study,  and  write  his 
great  work  on  "  The  Will  "  in  about  four  months. 
The  fact  is,  he  was  making  the  book  during  all  his 
stay  at  Northampton.  Not  that  he  wrote  it  on  paper ; 
but  it  was  worked  out  in  his  brain.  If  you  will  go  to 
the  old  records  of  the  Ministerial  Association,  to 
which  he  belonged,  )  ou  will  find  that,  meeting  after 
meeting,  and  year  after  year,  are  recorded  questions 
which  "  Mr.  Edwards  proposed  "  for  discussion,  and 
which  were  discussed  again  and  again  ;  and  all  these 
questions  are  in  the  line  of  that  wonderful  work,  —  a 
work  so  profound,  that  it  frightens  most  from  attempt- 
ing to  read  it,  and  which  the  English  reviewer  asserted 
was  based  on  a  mistake  ;  but  he  was  candid  enough 
at  the  same  time  to  say,  that  he  could  not  point  out 
the  mistake.  And  the  work  remains,  like  Wellington 
on  Waterloo,  whipped  several  times,  as  the  French 
said,  if  he  "  only  had  sense  enough  to  know  it."  Most 
who  have  tried  to  upset  the  work  remind  one  of  pig- 
mies taking  hold  of  the  corner  of  the  mantle  of  a  giant 
and  trotting  along  after  him,  and  wondering  why  the 
mantle  don't  come  off'. 

Arminianism  extensively  prevailed  in  the  days  of 
Edwards  through  all  the  churches,  almost  without  ex- 
ception. He  felt  it  his  duty  to  meet  the  swollen  tor- 
rent ;  and  meet  it  he  did,  and,  by  intellectual  and 
spiritual  columbiads,  destroyed  its  strongholds  first. 
Those  who  met  and  tried  argument  with  him  soon 
found  his  terrible  logic  too  much  for  them.  Their 
forts  were  demolished  ;  and  they  themselves  were 
gently  laid  on  the  back,  with  no  more  power  to  rise 
than  if  an  elephant's  foot  had  been  on  them.  If  they 
lifted  a  spear,  it  was  broken.     If  they  used  rhetoric, 


Edwards  Memorial.  127 

it  was  putting  violets  under  a  trip-hammer.  More 
brilliant  controversialists  have  been  known  ;  but  for 
pure  logic,  and  strong,  unanswerable  argument,  you 
will  have  to  go  far  before  you  find  his  equal.  I  have 
never  known  a  man  to  speak  slightingly  of  Edwards 
who  had  read  him.  As  a  mere  exercise  of  the  intel- 
lect, and  a  very  high  one  too,  we  may  safely  commend 
his  work  on  "  The  Will,"  —  second  to  none. 

Most  earnestly,  solemnly,-  and  faithfully  did  Ed- 
wards preach  the  gospel  at  Northampton  in  all  its 
uncompromising  claims  ;  and  great  were  the  results. 
Two  revivals,  one  of  which  shook  the  land,  and  moved 
many  hearts  across  the  ocean,  were  the  results  of  his 
ministry.  Such  outpourings  of  the  Spirit  seemed  a 
new  thing  in  the  land  ;  and,  as  a  consequence,  there 
were  many  wild  things  taught  and  acted  out,  till  it 
seemed  as  if,  in  breaking  up  the  crust  which  had  so  long 
been  gathering,  the  waters  would  sweep  away  all  the 
foundations.  Hence  Edwards  was  called  upon  to 
l^reach  much  in  churches  out  of  his  own  town,  and 
also  to  settle  the  great  questions  as  to  what  is,  or  is  not, 
the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ;  what  is,  and  what  is  not, 
true  religion.  The  latter  he  did  with  his  pen  ;  and  his 
"  True  Religion  Delineated,"  and  his  work  on  "  The 
Affections,"  have  done  a  vast  work  in  shaping  the  pul- 
pit-teachings, the  action  and  character  of  our  churches, 
and  individual  religious  experience,  from  that  day  to 
this.  His  spirit  v,'as  so  warm  with  piety,  his  intellect 
was  so  clear,  and  his  teachings  so  in  accordance  with 
the  best  experience  of  good  men,  that  our  churches 
and  our  times  have  been  formed  or  greatly  influenced 
after  his  model. 

During  a  long  period,  he  and   his  church   lived  in 


128  Edwards  Memorial, 

harmony  and  peace.  Few  churches  ever  loved  their 
pastor  so  weh,  and  few  ever  had  occasion  to  love  him 
so  much.  Pastorates  and  marriages,  in  those  days, 
were  for  life.  The  husband  and  the  wife  never  thought 
of  a  divorce;  and  the  pastor,  instead  of  running  from 
place  to  place,  and  spending  his  life  in  ever  beginning 
and  never  having  time  to  do  more,  had  the  opportu- 
nity of  forming  the  character  of  at  least  one  generation 
by  his  ministry.*  This  tie,  and  that  of  marriage,  is  so 
sacred,  that,  when  an  efibrt  is  made  to  sunder  it,  there 
is  a  peculiar  bitterness  engendered.  It  would  be  diffi- 
cult, since  the  time  when  the  Galatians  at  one  time 
were  ready  to  give  their  eyes  to  Paul,  and,  a  little  after, 
quite  as  ready  to  tear  his  eyes  out,  to  find  an  example 
of  a  more  unreasonable  and  cruel  treatment  of  a  good 
minister  than  that  which  Edwards  received  from  his 
flock. 

Of  all  unsafe  places  for  truth  to  live  and  breathe, 
the  excitement  of  good  men  is  one  of  the  most  unsafe. 
When  worldly  men  become  excited  and  maddened, .they 
have  the  good  sense  to  know  that  it  is  all  will  :  but, 
when  good  men  get  excited,  they  are  the  most  un- 
reasonable of  all  men  ;  and  for  the  plain  reason,  that 
they  can't  tell  their  will  from  their  conscience.  They 
call  it  all  conscience,  when,  perhaps,  there  is  not  a  sin- 
gle pulsation  of  conscience.  The  people  of  North- 
ampton turned  against  Edwards  with  a  violence  and  a 
ferocity  that  makes  it  a  painful  history  even  now  to 
read.  The  occasion  of  it  was,  that  gradually,  and 
after  great  thought  and  much  prayer,  Edwards  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  not  scriptural  to  receive 
confessedly  worldly  men  and  unconverted  men  into 
the  communion  of  the  church.     This  was,  undoubted- 


Edwards  Memorial.  1 29 

]y,  a  change  from  his  own  former  opinions  :  but  they 
knew  he  was  an  honest  man  ;  that  slowly  and  cautious- 
ly he  came  to  the  new  conclusions  ;  that  he  was  very 
kind  and  moderate  in  announcing  them,  and  only  want- 
ed an  opportunity  to  present  his  reasons  for  his  belief 
to  his  people.  This  roused  his  people  into  a  very 
whirlwind  of  excitement.  Edwards  proposed  to  pre- 
sent the  subject  in  the  pulpit,  —  not  to  force  his  opin- 
ions on  them,  but  to  give  his  reasons.  No :  they  would 
not  allow  that.  He  then  printed  his  views  ;  and  tliey 
would  not  read  them.  He  next  proposed  to  present 
them  in  a  week-day  lecture.  No  :  they  would  not 
allow  that.  He  then  proposed  to  submit  their  dis- 
agreements to  a  mutual  council :  this  they  would  not 
do,  unless  Edwards  would  select  his  half  among  the 
churches  in  the  couat}^  —  all  which,  as  they  knew, 
were  hostile  to  his  views.  They  finally  did  allow  him 
to  select  two  churches  out  of  the  county,  but  took  care 
that  there  should  be  a  majority  against  him.  All  this 
time  Edwards  was  calm,  gentle,  though  slandered  atro- 
ciously, abused,  reviled,  and  persecuted,  and  expecting 
all  the  time  that  the  result  would  be  the  sundering 
the  ties  of  years,  and  reducing  his  family  to  beggary. 
He  was  dismissed,  maligned,  traduced,  and  with  no 
prospect  of  employment.  Even  then,  when  he  re- 
mained in  town  after  his  dismission,  they  would  not 
allow  him  to  preach  the  gospel  ;  choosing,  rather,  to 
edify  one  another  by  what  were  called  "  deacons' 
meetings."  God  sent  the  good  man  help,  not  by 
ravens,  but  from  strangers  in  Scotland. 

I  rejoice  to  add  that  the  people  of  Northampton, 
after  their  passions  had  time  to  cool,  not  only  adopted 
his  views,  but  have  ever  since  been  among  the  most 


130  Ediuards  Memorial. 

intelligent,  stable,  and  minister-loving  people  in  all 
New  England.  The  impress  of  his  strong  hand  re- 
mains there  to  this  day. 

But  the  fall  of  Edwards  was  the  mightiest  victory 
of  his  life.  He  was  so  well  known,  his  church  had 
been  so  distinguished  by  his  labors,  that  the  eyes  of  all 
churches  were  turned  towards  Northampton.  They 
who,  in  the  spirit  of  the  worldly,  had  so  persecuted  their 
pastor  for  righteousness'  sake,  were  a  powerful  argu- 
ment for  the  Edwardean  view  :  and  men  read  his  writ- 
ings, and  searched  the  Scriptures  ;  and  the  result  was, 
that  the  churches  through  New  England  and  through 
the  land  were  brought  back  to  the  scriptural  idea 
of  church-membership.  Nothing,  probably,  short  of 
all  that  took  place,  would  have  drawn  the  attention 
of  the  American  people  to  this  subject,  and  nothing 
short  of  his  great  pen  could  so  quickly  and  so  univer- 
sally have  settled  this  great  question  ;  and  hundreds 
of  churches  are  to-day  walking  in  their  purity,  sepa- 
rated from  the  world,  enjoying  peace,  Vv^ithout  ever 
knowing  how  that  peace  had  been  procured. 

The  letter  of  Major  Hawley,  one  of  the  leading  spirits 
against  Edwards,  containing  his  confessions,  rehears- 
ing the  wrongs  that  were  done,  and  pouring  out  his 
soul  in  shame  and  remorse  and  repentance,  more 
than  confirms  all  I  have  said  concerning  this  unhappy 
affair  ;  but  I  must  add,  that,  while  we  can  hardly  see 
how  it  was  possible  for  a  Christian  people  to  do  as  his 
people  did,  it  is  almost  as  difficult  for  us  to  conceive 
how  a  man  so  treated  could  behave  as  he  did,  —  so 
much  like  his  Master. 

Thus  we  hardly  know  which  most  to  admire-^and 
wonder    over    in    the    ministry    of    Edwards,  —  his 


Edzuarcis  Memorial.  131 

original  and  luminous  investigations,  his  weighty 
sermons  and  powerful  preaching,  his  great  and  per- 
manent contributions  to  human  thought  and  elucida- 
tion of  divine  truth,  his  meekness  and  gentleness 
under  an  ordeal  that  few  could  endure,  his  power  in 
directing  and  controlling  the  churches  when  heaving 
with  excitement,  his  bringing  them  back  to  scriptural 
views,  or  in  the  combined  greatness,  simplicity,  and 
strength  of  character,  by  which  he  still  walks  the 
earth,  and  which  will  cause  his  footsteps  to  echo  on 
the  shores  of  Time,  till  Truth  will  no  longer  need 
to  contend  with  Error,  because  her  victory  is  complete 
and  her  triumph  is  eternal. 

EDWARDS    AND    STOCKBRIDGE. 

The  humble  yet  really  brilliant  epoch  of  Edwards 
at  Stockbridge  was  presented  by  Rev.  Dr.  Hopkins, 
President  of  Williams  College,  himself  a  native  of 
Stockbridge,  and  a  descendant  of  John  Sargeant. 

ADDRESS 

BY   REV.    MARK    HOPKINS,    D.D.,    LL.D. 

The  grandest  product  of  this  planet  is  a  great  man. 
There  are  upon  it  great  mountains,  great  cataracts, 
great  prairies,  great  trees,  great  works  of  art.  These 
we  visit  for  the  impression  which  the  things  them- 
selves make  upon  us  ;  but,  if  we  suppose  them  re- 
moved, they  could  have  no  power  to  consecrate  the 
places  where  they  once  were.  This  power  belongs 
only  to  great  men  and  great  events.  To  these  it  does 
so  belou":  as   to  constitute  a  striking   feature  in  the 


132  Edwards  Memorial. 

history  of  the  race.  Hence  literary  and  religious  pil- 
grimages ;  hence  seven  cities  contended  for  the 
honor  of  having  been  the  birthplace  of  Homer ; 
hence  Cicero  visited  with  so  deep  an  interest  the 
place  where  Plato  taught  ;  hence  travellers  visit  the 
birthplace  of  Shakspeare  and  the  seat  of  Sir  Walter 
Scott ;  and  it  is  from  the  same  principle  that  so  many 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  have  turned  their 
feet  towards  Jerusalem  and  Olivet,  Gethsemane  and 
Calvary. 

This  principle  it  is  that  brings  us  to  Stockbridge 
to-day.  From  places  near  and  remote  we  have  come 
to  this  goodly  town,  not,  as  we  might  well  have  done, 
for  its  own  beauty,  but  because,  more  than  a  hundred 
years  ago,  there  lived  here  a  great  man,  —  one  of  the 
greatest  and  best  men  that  has  ever  lived.  Here  it 
was  that  Jonathan  Edwards  came  in  1751  to  succeed 
Sargeant  in  his  missionary  labors  for  the  Indians,  and 
as  pastor  to  the  few  whites  then  settled  among  them  ; 
and  it  is  upon  his  life  and  labors  while  here,  that,  as 
a  native  of  the  town  thus  honored  by  his  residence,  I 
have  been  invited  to  make  a  few  remarks  before  his 
gathered  descendants. 

It  was  but  six  years  that  Edwards  resided  here  ; 
and,  to  appreciate  what  he  did,  we  must  understand 
his  position.  The  country  was  comparatively  a  wil- 
derness. His  labors  were  primarily  and  chiefly  for 
those  just  emerging  from  heathenism  and  from  a 
savage  state.  He  had  a  large  family.  His  means 
were  limited.  He  was  harassed  for  a  time  by  persist- 
ent opposition  to  his  mission.  He  was  alarmed  and 
endangered  by  border  warfare  during  the  second 
French   war,  —  four  persons    having    been    killed    in 


Edwards  Memorial.  133 

the  place  by  Canada  Indians  ;  and  he  had  soldiers 
quartered  upon  him.  He  suffered  from  the  ague  and 
fever  incident  to  new  settlements.  He  was  far  re- 
moved from  books,  and  from  much  converse  with 
learned  men  ;  so  that,  if  his  reading  was  limited,  it 
was  not  his  fault.  With  such  embarrassments,  an 
ordinary  man  might  well  have  congratulated  him- 
self if  he  could  meet  satisfactorily  the  current  respon- 
sibilities of  his  position.  This  Edwards  did  ;  and,  in 
addition  to  much  correspondence,  it  required  an 
amount  of  labor  to  which  few  ministers  would  now 
submit.  Twice  each  sabbath  he  preached  in  English, 
and  twice  to  the  Indians  by  an  interpreter,  besides 
catechising  the  children  of  each  of  the  two  tribes 
under  his  care.  Thus  doing,  he  satisfied  the  patrons 
and  friends  of  the  mission,  and  perhaps  accomplished 
all  that  could  have  been  accomplished  in  circum- 
stances so  untoward,  and  with  the  minds  of  the  Indi- 
ans distracted  and  alienated  from  the  English  as  they 
then  were.  But  in  spite  of  all  this,  or  rather  in  con- 
nection with  it,  Edwards  spent  thirteen  hours  a  day 
in  his  study  ;  and  during  this  brief  period,  the  most 
important  to  the  world  in  his  history,  he  produced 
the  chief  of  those  immortal  works  which  have  wrought 
so  efficiently  in  changing  and  guiding  the  course  of 
human  thought,  and  which  have  given  him  a  name, 
both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  among  the  great- 
est thinkers  the  world  has  produced.  If  we  consider 
the  disadvantages  under  which  he  labored,  it  may  be 
questioned  whether  the  world  can  furnish  a  more 
signal  example  of  the  results  of  solitary  thought. 

The  works  just  referred   to   as  written   here  were 
the  treatises  "  0:i  the  Will,"  "  On  God's  Last   End  in 


134  Edwards  Memorial. 

the  Creation,"  "  On  the  Nature  of  True  Virtue," 
and  "  On  Original  Sin."  He  was  also  at  work,  when 
called  to  Princeton,  on  "The  History  of  Redemp- 
tion," which  he  intended  should  be  a  complete  system 
of  theology  on  a  new  plan. 

Of  these  works,  that  "  On  the  Will "  is  the  most 
celebrated,  in  part,  perhaps,  as  connected  with  con- 
troversies rife  at  the  time  and  since.  Speaking  of 
Edwards  and  of  this  work,  Dr.  Chalmers  says,  "  There 
is  no  European  divine  to  whom  I  make  such  frequent 
appeals  in  my  class-room  as  I  do  to  Edwards  ;  no 
book  of  human  composition  which  I  more  strenuously 
recommend  than  his  '  Treatise  on  the  Will,'  read  by 
me  forty-seven  years  ago  with  a  conviction  that  has 
never  since  faltered,  and  which  has  helped  me  more 
than  any  other  uninspired  book  to  find  my  way 
through  all  that  might  otherwise  have  proved  baffling 
and  transcendental  and  mysterious  in  the  peculiarities 
of  Calvinism." 

Thus  was  this  treatise  useful  to  theologians,  and 
still  is.  It  holds  with  them  the  highest  rank.  But, 
for  the  common  mind,  the  fact  of  freedom  will  always 
be  found  in  the  very  act  of  choice  with  an  alternative 
in  kind  ;  and  the  certainty  of  that  fact  will  be  assured 
by  an  intuitive  conviction  which  metaphysical  reason- 
ing can  neither  strengthen  nor  eradicate. 

Of  the  treatises  mentioned,  that  "  On  the  Nature 
of  True  Virtue "  is  the  least  in  size,  and  has  been 
received  with  the  least  favor,  even  by  those  who  have, 
in  general,  thought  with  Edwards.  To  me,  however, 
it  seems,  that,  in  this,  Edwards  is  no  less  original  and 
profound  than  in  the  others,  adopting,  as  he  does,  the 
simple,  scriptural,  and  philosophical  ground,  that  true 


Edivards  Memorial. 


135 


virtue  consists  in  love,  and  is  thus  the  product,  not 
of  the  intellect  or  of  the  sensibility,  or  of  both  com- 
bined, but  of  the  will,  or  heart,  which  he  uses  as 
synonymous  terms,  and  supposing,  of  course,  that  the 
will  can  act  only  on  condition  of  the  previous  action 
both  of  the  sensibility  and  of  the  rational  intellect. . 

In  these  treatises  especially,  Edwards  grappled  with 
those  universal  and  perennial  problems  which  con- 
front man  as  man,  and  which  probably  confront  every 
finite,  rational  being ;  and  also  with  those  which  arise 
from  the  necessity  there  is  felt  to  be  of  reconciling 
revelation  with  reason  and  with  facts  known  from 
other  sources.  Of  these  two  classes  of  problems, 
some  confine  themselves  wholly  to  the  first,  ignoring 
the  Scriptures.  They  speak  of  the  absolute  and  the 
infinite,  of  being,  of  time  and  space,  of  causation, 
of  free-will  and  fate,  and  think  themselves  philosophers 
par  eminence.  Others  confine  themselves  chiefly 
to  the  second  class  of  problems.  They  receive  the 
Scriptures  as  authority ;  they  accept  the  solutions 
they  give  of  the  great  problems  of  being  and  of  life, 
and  seek  to  reconcile  these  with  reason  and  with 
science.  But,  in  both  these  lines  of  thought,  Ed- 
wards was  pre-eminent.  No  man  has  wrestled  more 
freely,  independently,  strongly,  with  the  first  class 
of  questions.  No  man  more  reverenced  the  Scrip- 
tures, or  studied  them  more  thoroughly,  or  felt  more 
fully  the  necessity  of  reconciling  them  with  reason 
and  with  science.  Hence  he  stands  at  the  head, 
not  so  much  of  a  school,  as  of  a  movement,  —  the 
movement  of  free  thought  towards  the  rational  com- 
prehension of  all  questions  that  can  be  compre- 
hended, and  the  movement  of  faith  towards  the  ra- 


136  Edwards  Memorial. 

tional  acceptance  of  the  facts  and  solutions  which 
are  revealed  ;  the  faith  being  made  rational,  because 
its  ground,  as  confidence  in  the  person  making  the 
revelation,  is  distinctly  seen.  It  is  of  the  essence  of 
reason  that  it  should  be  rational  ;  it  is  of  the  essence 
of  faith  that  it  should  be  confiding  :  and  no  being  that 
is  at  once  finite  and  a  child  can  be  in  right  relations 
except  as  these  two  are  in  harmony  within  him. 
Hence  the  greatness  of  Edwards  as  complete,  he 
being  equally  free  from  the  one-sidedness  of  ra- 
tionalism on  the  one  hand,  and  of  credulity  on  the 
other. 

But,  while  his  own  example  was  thus  perfect,  his 
very  intellectual  greatness  endangered  the  progress 
of  others.  Men  make  progress  as  they  deal  directly 
with  truth.  That  is  the  mother-earth  of  the  soul ;  and 
it  is  direct  contact  with  that,  and  not  with  what  others 
have  said  about  it,  that  gives  vitality.  But  great  men 
stride  before  the  masses.  These  come  up  to  them 
but  slowly  ;  and,  when  they  do,  they  make  their  power 
and  success  in  following  a  right  method  a  ground  for 
rejecting  that  very  method.  Instead  of  looking  at 
Nature  and  at  Truth,  they  look  at  the  great  man. 
They  rest  in  authority,  and  dwindle  into  commen- 
tators. An  age  of  commentators  is  an  age  of  feeble- 
ness ;  and  those  who  read  them  most  generally  show 
that  they  have  lived  on  diluted  food.  Of  a  great  man 
thus  obstructing  progress,  Aristotle  was  a  conspicuous 
example.  So,  too,  was  it  with  Luther  and  with  Cal- 
vin. So  has  it  always  been  with  very  great  men  ;  and 
nothing  could  more  strikingly  show  the  greatness 
of  Edwards  in  the  works  here  produced  than  the 
extent  to  which  men  have  commented  upon  him,  and 


Edwards  Memorial.  137 

disputed  about  his  meaning,  and  deferred  to  his  au- 
thority. Almost  immediately  on  his  decease,  he  took 
an  unquestioned  place  among 

"The  dead  Init  sceptred  sovereigns  who  still  rule 
Our  spirits  from  their  urns." 

That  he  is  the  first  metaphysician  this  country  has 
produced,  no  one  can  doubt. 

Such  was  Edwards  intellectually ;  but  his  chief 
distinction  was  the  union  in  him,  here  as  elsewhere, 
of  this  intellectual  power  with  a  saintly  life.  Not 
merely  did  he  regard  the  moralities,  the  proprieties, 
and  the  courtesies  of  life  ;  but  he  was  distinctively  and 
eminently  a  man  of  God.  He  repented  of  sin,  and 
lived  by  faith,  and  communed  with  God,  and  sought 
to  be  conformed  in  all  things  to  him  as  he  has  revealed 
himself  in  the  perfect  manhood  of  Christ.  And  this 
is  what  the  world  needs.  It  needs  intellectual  power 
in  combination  with  love  to  God  and  love  to  man. 
His  views  may  have  been,  on  some  points,  erroneous  ; 
his  tetnperament  may  have  been  more  or  less  unfor- 
tunate :  of  that  I  know  nothing,  except  what  he  has 
himself  stated.  But  his  spirit  and  temper  and  char- 
acter were  such  as  must  become  prevalent  among 
men,  if  this  world  is  to  be  essentially  improved.  Well 
may  his  descendants,  well  may  the  world,  honor  such 
a  man. 

In  speaking  of  Edwards  as  related  to  Stockbridge, 
it  is  pleasing  to  notice,  that,  as  a  great  man,  he  does 
not  stand  alone.  For  a  town  no  larger  than  this, 
there  have  been  and  are  connected  with  it,  by  resi- 
dence or  birth,  an  unusual  number  of  those  whose 
names   will   live   in   history.      In   the  same  line  with 


138  Edwards  Memorial. 

Edwards,  West  and  Field  were  great  men,  and  were 
worthy  of  the  ta^^lets  in  this  church  by  which  they 
are  commemorated  in  connection  with  him.  In 
another  hne  are  the  names  of  Judge  Sedgwick,  and 
Miss  Catharine  Sedgwick,  and  Mrs.  Theodore  Sedg- 
wick. We  have  also  among  the  living  a  codifier 
of  laws,  the  most  eminent  of  this  age  ;  a  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  ;  and  still  another, 
whose  name  will  be  remembered  as  long  as  the  swift 
messages  of  the  telegraph  shall  make  the  ocean-bed 
their  highway,  and  shall  outrun  the  sun  in  his  course. 
At  the  head  of  these,  Edwards  stands  the  greatest 
of  all,  —  great  as  a  man,  great  as  a  Christian  minis- 
ter and  preacher,  great  pre-eminently  as  a  metaphy- 
sician ;  not  great  before  God  (for  that  no  man  can 
be),  but  great  as  walking  humbly  with  him. 

EDWARDS    AND    PRINCETON. 

It  had  been  early  arranged  that  Dr.  McCosh,  Presi- 
dent of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  should  represent 
Edwards  at  Princeton  ;  but  his  engagements  in  col- 
lege just  at  the  time  of  the  meeting  prevented.  The 
following  letter,  read  by  the  vice-president,  who  was 
now  in  the  chair,  will  show  the  reason  of  his  ab- 
sence :  — 

Cacowna,  Lower  Canada,  Aug.  24,  1S70.  ■ 

My  dear  Sir,  —  Your  circular,  with  letter,  has  just 
reached  me  here,  where  I  have  been  for  the  last  few 
weeks. 

I  have  been  looking  forward  with  intense  interest 
to  your  meeting.  It  seemed  to  promise  me  a  favora- 
ble opportunity  of  expressing  my  profound  respect  for 


Edwards  Memorial.  1 39 

Jonathan  Edwards  ;  and  I  expected  so  much  pleasure 
and  profit  from  meeting  his  descendants  ! 

But  the  committee  has  fixed  on  the  only  days  in 
September  or  October  on  which  I  cannot  be  with 
you.  I  was  under  an  impression  that  the  meeting 
would  be  held  later  in  September,  or  perhaps  at  the 
beginning  of  October.  I  was  keeping  free  of  every 
engagement  which  might  interfere  with  my  joining 
your  gathering. 

The  time  you  have  fixed  is,  I  believe,  a  good  one 
for  your  purpose  ;  but  it  so  happens  that  it  is  the 
opening  of  the  academic  year  in  the  College  of  New 
Jersey.  On  Tuesday,  the  new  students  come  up  with 
their  parents  ;  and,  on  Wednesday,  we  formally  open, 
the  session.  We  have  to  enter  new  recitation-rooms, 
and  have  otherwise  multiplied  arrangements  to  make, 
owing  to  improvements  we  are  making ;  and  the 
president  of  the  college  cannot  be  away. 

This  is  no  loss  to  you,  for  you  have  abundance 
of  other  speakers  ;  but  I  feel  that  it  is  a  very,  very 
great  disappointment  to  me. 

I  go  home  to  Princeton,  the  middle  of  next  week, 

to  prepare  for  the  opening  of  our  session.      I   will 

make  a  reference  to  your  gathering  in   my  opening 

address.  * 

I  am  yours  ever, 

James  McCosh. 
Rkv.  Jona.  Edwards  Woodbridge. 

Upon  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Prime 
of  "  The  New-York  Observer "  was  addressed,  and 
invited  to  take  this  part  of  the  service.  This  he 
kindly  consented  to  do,  thougli  the  notice  was  so  very 


140  Edwcwds  Memorial. 

brief;  but  he  protested  against  being  regarded  as  a 
substitute  for  Dr.  McCosh.  He,  however,  performed 
the  part  with  a  power  that  deeply  impressed  the 
whole  assembly. 

REMARKS 

BY   S.    IREN.«US   PRIME,    D.D. 

The  thoughts  of  Jonathan  Edwards  have  wrought 
more  efficiently  for  good  in  others  than  the  writings 
of  any  other  uninspired  man. 

That  system  of  philosophy  which  Paul  taught  to 
the  Romans,  and  Calvin  illustrated  in  his  Institutes, 
and  which  became  the  accepted  system  of  Holland 
and  Scotland  and  New  England,  has  had  power  to 
subdue  kingdoms,  and  reign  over  the  religious  mind 
of  ages  and  nations.  Its  energy  and  vitality  lie  in  its 
exhibition  of  the  cHvine-human,  the  Dens  Homo, 
the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man,  divine  sover- 
eignty with  human  freedom  mysteriously  blended,  but 
distinctly  pronounced,  as  in  the  person  of  Him  who 
was  "  God  manifest  in  the  flesh."  It  is  the  system 
which  consistently  recognizes  the  double  or  complex 
nature  of  the  human  soul,  addressing  the  intellect  with 
the  resistless  logic  of  truth,  and  overwhelming  the 
affections  with  the  almighty  power  of  love.  This  the 
Holy  Ghost  did  through  Paul ;  this  Jonathan  Edwards 
did  with  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  burning 
in  his  heart,  while  the  enginery  of  a  gigantic  intellect 
worked  wondrously  in  his  head.  If  I  have  a  just  ap- 
preciation of  the  constituents  of  his  greatness,  of  the 
elements  that  made  him  a  power  in  the  moral  and  meta- 
physical world,  acting  like  the  sun  in  the  solar  system 
among  all  the  lights  of  the  Church  since  his  time,  and 


Edwards  Memorial.  141 

destined,  doubtless,  so  to  act  till  systems  fade  and 
suns  themselves  dissolve  in  the  blaze  of  celestial 
glory,  when  the  light  of  eternity  makes  all  things 
clear,  even  the  deep  things  of  God,  his  greatness  was 
in  that  marvellous  junction  of  the  S021I  and  spirit  in 
his  machinery  of  thought  ;  so  that  his  philosophy  was 
swallowed  up  in  his  religion,  and  his  religion  was 
saturated  with  divine  philosophy. 

When  I  was  a  boy  of  fifteen  at  college  in  Williams- 
town,  a  number  of  my  fellow-students  with  me  became 
seriously  disposed  to  seek  the  salvation  of  our  souls. 
We  sent  a  committee  to  ask  the  president,  Dr.  Grif- 
fin, to  meet  us  in  the  recitation-room,  and  tell  us  what 
to  do.  He  was  so  engaged,  that  he  could  not  come 
that  moment  ;  but  he  sent  a  sermon,  with  the  request 
that  we  would  have  it  read  by  one  of  us  in  the  hearing 
of  all.  Was  it  one  of  his  own  matchless,  rhetorical, 
overwhelming  appeals }  No :  it  was  an  old  yellow 
volume  of  sermons  by  Jonathan  Edwards.  The  one 
he  commended  to  us  was  read  ;  and  I  remember  well 
that  I  was  afraid  at  its  close  to  walk  across  the  floor, 
lest  it  should  prove  the  cover  of  hell,  and  rotten  at 
that. 

His  tJieology  had  revivals  and  repentance,  and  sal- 
vation from  hell,  in  it ;  and  this  made  it  and  makes 
it  and  will  keep  it  divine  theology  till  Christ  is  all  in 
all.  O  brethren !  if  Edwards  preached  the  terror 
of  the  Lord  too  much,  do  we  not  preach  too  little 
of  it .? 

This  was  the  flux  which  it  cast  in  with  the  ore 
of  Scotch  theology,  giving  it  spirituality  and  warmth 
and  growth,  and  power  of  assimilation  with  the  thought 
of  the  age  and  the  ages,  which  it  had  not  before  that 


142  Edwards  Memorial. 

mightiest  of  modern  preachers,  Thomas  Chalmers, 
was  born  and  born  again.  Read  his  testimony  for 
Edwards  in  his  letter  to  Dr.  Stebbins  of  Northamp- 
ton :  — 

'■  I  have  long  esteemed  him  as  the  greatest  of  theo- 
logians, combining,  in  a  degree  that  is  quite  unexam- 
pled, the  profoundly  intellectual  with  the  devotedly 
spiritual  and  sacred,  and  realizing  in  his  own  person 
a  most  rare  yet  most  beautiful  harmony  between  the 
simplicity  of  the  Christian  pastor  on  the  one  hand, 
and,  on  the  other,  all  the  strength  and  prowess  of  a 
giant  in  philosophy  ;  so  as  at  once  to  minister  from  sab- 
bath to  sabbath,  and  with  the  most  blessed  effect,  to  the 
hearers  of  his  plain  congregation,  and  yet  in  the  high 
field  of  authorship  to  have  traversed,  in  a  way  that  none 
had  ever  done  before  him,  the  most  inaccessible 
places,  and  achieved  such  a  mastery  as  had  never  till 
his  time  been  realized  over  the  most  arduous  difficul- 
ties of  our  science. 

"  There  is  no  European  divine  to  whom  I  make 
such  frequent  appeals  in  my  class-room  as  I  do  to 
Edwards  ;  no  book  of  human  composition  which  I 
more  strenuously  recommend  than  his  '  Treatise  on 
the  Will,'  read  by  me  forty-seven  years  ago  with  a 
conviction  that  has  never  since  faltered,  and  which 
has  helped  me,  more  than  any  other  uninspired  book, 
to  find  my  way  through  all  that  might  otherwise  have 
proved  baffling  and  transcendental  and  mysterious  in 
the  peculiarities  of  Calvinism." 

The  Scotch  theology  and  metaphysics  came  to  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  America  ;  and  so  thoroughly 


Edwards  Memorial.  143 

were  the  churches  and  ministers  made  acquainted 
with  the  views  and  the  powers  of  this  Stockbridge 
missionary  and  rural  pastor,  then  (compared  with  his 
renown  to-day)  an  obscure  and  unknown  man,  that 
they  sought  him  to  take  the  presidency  of  their  col- 
lege. Burr,  his  son-in-law,  had  died  at  its  head. 
They  asked  Edwards  to  succeed  him.  His  letter 
begging  to  be  excused,  is  a  marvel  of  modesty  and 
self-abasement.  Mea  in  our  day  do  not  refuse  honors 
and  place  for  the  reasons  he  gave. 

He  was  prevailed  upon  to  go.  How  he  wandered 
about  on  the  wharf  in  New  York,  hesitating  and 
trembling !  With  what  diffidence  he  entered  upon 
his  work !  He  had  not  been  there  forty  days  when 
he  was  seized  with  mortal  sickness.  His  friends  and 
the  friends  of  the  college  stood  by  him  when  they 
thought  him  unconscious  ;  and  they  said  one  to  an- 
other, "  What  will  become  of  tl're  college  }  "  And  he 
ojiened  his  dying  lips,  and  said,  "Trust  God,  and  you 
need  not  fear." 

His  sepulchre  is  with  them  (us)  unto  this  day.  His 
power  is  there.  Being  dead,  he  yet  speaks,  and  de- 
livers lectures  on  systematic  theology  in  Princeton 
every  day  in  every  year.  There  is  more  sound  the- 
ology in  the  mouldering  bones  of  dead  Jonathan  in 
that  Princeton  cemetery  than  in  all  the  systems  which 
crowd  out  Christ  and  the  Holy  Ghost  that  have  ever 
been  propounded  among  men.  Princeton  theology 
has  all  that  is  good  in  every  other,  and  its  spirit  is 
thoroughly  of  Edwards.  It  has  the  life  of  Christ  in 
it :  it  subordinates  the  reason- to  divine  authority,  and 
adores  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Every  young  pilgrim  who  comes  to  take  the  living 


144  Edwards  Memorial. 

waters  of  truth  at  those  fountains  pays  an  early  visit 
to  the  tombs  of  the  prophets  there.  He  finds  the 
grave  of  Jonathan  Edwards  among  those  of  Burr  and 
Witherspoon  and  Davies,  Finley  and  Stanhope  Smith 
and  Green  and  Carnahan  and  Miller,  and  three  great 
Alexanders.  He  stands  over  their  ashes,  and  some- 
thing of  their  fire  kindles  in  his  soul. 

I  do  not  know  that  it  matters  where  we  are  buried, 
or  where  we  happen  to  be  when  the  dead  arise  to 
meet  the  Lord  in  the  air.  In  the  catacombs  among 
the  saints  of  primitive  Christianity,  in  the  silent  sep- 
ulchres of  departed  princes,  in  the  abbey  where  genius 
and  eloquence  and  lame  have  monuments  of  marble, 
it  would  be  glorious  to  stand  in  that  day  and  behold 
the  mighty  dead  come  up  in  the  resurrection. 

But  there  is  one  small  graveyard  in  New  Jersey 
where  sleep  the  men  who  have  "turned  many  to  right- 
eousness," and  whom  He  who  walks  among  the  golden 
candlesticks  will  set  amid  the  stars.  In  their  graves 
were  buried  wisdom,  -knowledge,  and  power.  Love 
and  piety  wept  floods  of  grief  on  the  grass  that  cov- 
ered them.  So  small  a  space  of  this  great  round 
globe  does  not  contain  more  sacred  dust.  And,  when 
the  earth  gives  back  its  trust,  a  train  of  white- 
robed  prophets  will  arise  in  that  Princeton  cemetery, 
and  walk  forth,  the  mortal  putting  on  immortality  ; 
and  he  whose  memory  we  have  met  to  celebrate  shall 
lead  the  way  to  the  foot  of  the  throne  and  the. Lamb. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Prime's  remarks,  and 
before  the  adjournment.  Col.  Goodrich  gave  an  invi- 
tation to  the  descendants  to  visit  "  The  Edwards 
House"  between  the  hours  of  seven  and  eicrht  in  the 


Edwards  Memorial.  145 

evening,  and  afterwards  to  meet  at  his  own  house  for 
a  reception. 

An  adjournment  was  then  made  to  nine  o'clock  the 
next  morning. 

The  visit  to  "  The  Edwards  Place  "  was  made  very 
interesting  by  the  politeness  of  Mr.  Reed,  the  owner, 
who  took  pleasure  in  pointing  out  to  his  visitors  every 
thing  which  was  associated  with  the  name  of  Edwards. 
The  little  eight-by-four  corner  in  which,  and  the  table 
on  which,  as  some  think,  he  wrote  "  The  Treatise  on 
the  Freedom  of  the  Will,"  and  other  associated  ob- 
jects, were  inspected  by  many  a  curious  eye. 

The  reception  at  Col.  Goodrich's  afforded  great 
enjoyment.  The  house  was  built  by  the  oldest  son 
of  Pres.  Edwards,  Judge  Timothy  Edwards,  who  lived 
and  died  there  in  1813.  Under  its  roof,  that  evening, 
were  gathered  nearly  two  hundred  people  in  whose 
veins  flowed  the  blood  of  a  common  ancestor.  The 
company  dispersed  between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock, 
recognizing  with  gratitude  the  hospitality  of  their 
host,  which  had  contributed  so  largely  to  their  enjoy- 
ment. 


WEDNESDAY,    Sept.  7. 

At  nine  o'clock,  the  meeting  was  called  to  order  by 
the  vice-president,  who  to-day,  in  consequence  of  the 
indisposition  of  the  president,  occupied  the  chair. 
The  hymn  by  Dr.  Dwight, — 

"  I  love  thv  kingdom,  Lord,"  — 

was  sung  by  the  congregation  ;    after  which   prayer 
was  offered  by  Rev.  Dr.  IL  W.  Hooker. 
10 


146  Edwards  Memorial. 

The  arrangement  for  this  morning's  session  had 
been  several  short  addresses  and  the  reading  of  two 
poems  by  members  of  the  family.  There  were  also 
letters  to  be  read,  and  some  business  to  be  trans- 
acted :  and  it  was  hoped  there  would  be  time  for  vol- 
unteer speeches  and  some  devotional  exercises  in 
conclusion  ;  but,  for  want  of  time,  this  plan  could  not 
be  fully  carried  out. 

The  chairman,  rising,  said,  There  is  one  of  the  de- 
scendants present  who  has  been  rector  of  the  Mon- 
umental Church  in  Richmond,  Va.,  for  nearly  forty 
years.  I  am  happy  to  introduce  to  you  Rev.  George 
Woodbridge,  D.D.,  of  Richmond. 

REMARKS 

OF    REV.    DR.    WOODBRIDGE. 

Mr.  President,  and  Members  of  this  Edwards 
Gathering, —  One  in  object  and  one  in  relationship, 
I  greet  you  all. 

There  are  two  facts  in  the  life  of  our  common  an- 
cestor which  may  not  be  generally  known  ;  or  which, 
if  known,  have  hardly  been  considered  with  the  at- 
tention they  deserve.  The  fiist  is,  that,  out  of  his 
eleven  children,  seven  were  born  on  Sunday:  the 
other  is,  that  each  of  his  children  was  baptized  the 
Sunday  after  its  birth. 

The  first  of  these  is  certainly  remarkable.  How 
often  do  we  observe,  in  the  lives  of  holy  men  of  God, 
that  the  events  of  Providence  seem  to  be  so  arranged 
as  to  meet  and  anticipate  their  wishes  and  desires ! 
Especially  is  this  to  be  observed  in  the  events  attend- 
ing the  close  of  life.  How  strikingly  was  this  the 
case  with  William  Wilberforcc  and  Henry  Venn! 


Edwards  Memorial.  147 

We  have  often  heard  and  read  of  those  who  ex- 
pressed a  wish  that  they  might  leave  this  world  and 
enter  upon  hfe  eternal  on  Sunday  ;  and  how  often 
have  we  seen  their  desires  granted  !  It  would  seem 
as  though  God,  with  all  a  father's  tenderness  and 
love,  desires  to  gratify  the  wishes  of  his  children 
when  it  can  be  done  without  injury  to  themselves  or 
to  others. 

There  might  not  have  been,  and  probably  there  was 
not,  in  Pres.  Edwards's  mind,  any  wish  or  thought  en- 
tertained on  this  subject.  Yet  still  we  cannot  but 
believe  that  the  kind  providence  of  God  so  ordered 
these,  events  as  to  give  pleasure  to  the  mind  of  his 
servant.  For,  if  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to  enter  upon 
life  everlasting  on  that  day,  when,  throughout  the 
earth,  his  servants  are  engaged  in  his  worship,  and 
are  offering  their  prayers  and  their  praises  in  his  holy 
place,  much  more  would  it  be  gratifying  to  enter 
upon  existence  at  such  a  time  ;  to  begin  a  life  which  is 
to  run  parallel  with  the  lifetime  of  the  Almighty, 
and  especially  a  life  which  needs  every  advantage  and 
eV'Cry  influence  we  can  gain  from  any  and  every 
source,  that  it  may  be  spent  for  our  good  and  for  his 
glory. 

The  first  that  broke  the  chain  in  this  succession 
was  my  grandmother  Lucy,  who  was  the  fifth  in  the 
order  of  birth,  and  who  was  born  on  Tuesday. 

The  other  fact,  that  each  of  his  children  was  bap- 
tized the  Sunday  after  its  birth,  is  also  a  fact  of  great 
interest. 

It  is  very  evident  that  Pres.  Edwards  entertained  a 
far  higher  sense  of  the  importance  cf  the  sacraments 
than    is    generally    entertained    by    Christian    j^eople 


148  Edwards  Memorial. 

now,  or  even  by  his  descendants.  He  advocated  the 
celebration  of  the  Lord's  supper  every  Lord's  Day  ; 
and  he  had  so  high  a  sense  of  the  importance  of  bap- 
tism, that  he  felt  he  could  not  too  soon,  for  the  benefit 
of  his  children,  avail  himself  of  the  blessings  of  God's 
covenant,  nor  too  soon  bring  them  to  Christ  for  his 
blessing,  nor  too  soon  introduce  them  into  the  mem-, 
bership  of  his  church.  "  Every  Christian  family,"  said 
he,  "  ought  to  be,  as  it  were,  a  little  church  consecrated 
to  Christ,  and  wholly  influenced  and  governed  by  his 
rules." 

Hence,  therefore,  his  children  grew  up  into  Christ. 
They  knew  no  time  in  their  lives  when  they  were  not 
influenced  by  Christian  principles  ;  and  therefore,  at 
a  very  early  period,  they  openly  consecrated  them- 
selves to  the  service  of  Christ.  This,  I  believe,  is  the 
history  of  the  majority  of  his  children  ;  though  with 
that  of  some  I  have  no  precise  information.  This, 
however,  is  certainly  true,  that  there  are  here  this  day 
two  hundred  of  his  descendants  upon  whom  his  man- 
tle has  fallen,  and  if  not  with  a  double  portion,  with 
at  least  a  large  portion,  of  his  spirit. 

It  is  remarkable,  too,  to  observe  the  respectful  ven- 
eration which  his  children  ever  entertained  towards 
him.  In  all  their  correspondence  with  their  parents, 
they  ever  addressed  them  as  "  Honored  Sir,"  or  "  Hon- 
ored Madam."  And  yet  the  letters  on  both  sides 
breathe  throughout  the  utmo'st  tenderness  and  love. 
This  respect  and  reverence  seemed  to  pervade  the 
whole  household.  Whenever  the  parents  entered  the 
room,  all  rose  till  they  were  seated  ;  whenever  the  par- 
ents spoke,  instantly  every  voice  was  hushed  in  respect- 
ful silence  till  they  had  finished  :  and  yet  there  was 


Edwards  Memorial.  149 

the  utmost  unreserve  in  all  the  domestic  intercourse. 
And,  after  the  evening  meal,  the  father,  abandoning 
himself  to  the  full  tide  of  gentleness  and  tenderness 
that  was  in  his  nature,  gave  himself  up  to  the  quiet 
enjoyment  of  the  family  conversation,  contributing  his 
full  share  of  genial  humor  and  amusement  to  the 
pleasant  fireside-scene. 

Mr.  President,  if  there  be  one  thing  more  than 
another  for  which  a  man  should  be  devoutly  grateful, 
it  is  that  of  being  descended  from  parents  of  great 
moral  worth,  and  integrity  of  character  ;  for  certainly 
moral  qualities  are  transmitted  as  well  as  intellectual 
and  physical.  In  the  old  Roman  families,  we  find  the 
peculiar  features  of  the.  progenitors  perpetuated  for 
ages  all  along  the  line,  and  reproduced  long  after- 
wards in  the  children.  The  Catos,  the  Scipios,  the 
Brutuses,  were  individualized  throughout  the  whole 
history  of  the  republic.  The  family  of  the  Guises  in 
France  were  distinguished  for  several  generations  for 
the  same  striking  qualities,  of  which  one  was  the  far- 
famed  smile  of  the  race. 

But  it  is  important,  too,  to  observe  that  even  piety 
is,  to  a  certain  extent,  an  inheritance.  "  The  chil- 
dren are  holy "  by  virtue  of  their  very  birth  from 
Christian  parents. 

With  a  spirit  of  devout  thankfulness,  therefore,  am 
I  here  this  day  to  join  you  all  in  returning  thanks  to 
the  God  of  our  fathers  that  we  have  received  our  birth 
from  one  so  highly  favored  of  God  as  was  President 
Edwakd.s.  I  have  come  to  this  place  because  here 
he  found  a  refuge  and  a  home.  I  have  come  to  this 
place  on  a  pilgrimage,  as  a  religious  duty,  that  I  might 
contribute  to  swell  the  anthem  of  praise  and  f)f  prayer 


150  Edzvards  Memorial. 

to  Him  who  hath  given  us  such  a  goodly  heritage  ; 
and  I  have  come  that  I  may  catch  and  carry  back  to 
my  distant  home  a  higher,  hoHer  spirit  of  consecra- 
tion to  Him  who  hath  done  such  great  things  for  us. 

Among  the  addresses  to  which  I  yesterday  list- 
ened, I  was  much  surprised  to  hear  the  wonder  ex- 
pressed, and  expressed  more  than  once,  that  he  should 
have  produced  so  great  an  impression  by  his  preach- 
ing ;  and  I  was  still  more  surprised  to  hear  it 
ascribed  to  the  force  of  his  intellect.  That  had,  un- 
doubtedly, something  to  do  with  it ;  but  compara- 
tively little,  however.  He  was  known  and  felt  to  be 
a  man  of  God  :  ''there  was  the  hiding  of  his  power." 
It  was  his  holiness  which  produced  such  effects  : 
herein  lay  his  great  strength  and  his  commanding 
eloquence.  His  biographer  says  of  him,  "  One  of  the 
positive  causes  of  his  high  character  and  great  success 
as  a  preacher  was  the  deep  and  pervading  solemnity 
of  his  mind.  He  had  at  all  times  a  solemn  conscious- 
ness of  the  presence  of  God.  This  was  visible  in  his 
looks  and  general  demeanor.  It  obviously  had  a  con- 
trolling influence  over  all  his  preparations  for  the 
desk,  and  was  most  manifest  in  all  his  public  services. 
Its  effect  on  an  audience  was  immediate,  and  not  to 
be  resisted." 

Mr.  Woodbridge.  —  I  see  before  me  one  of  the 
descendants,  whom  I  know  to  be  possessed  of  some 
interesting  facts  pertaining  to  the  oldest  son  of  Pres. 
Edwards  and  his  connection  with  Stockbridge  and 
Berkshire  County,  and  who  is  himself  also  the  oldest 
son  of  Col.  William  Edwards,  who,  for  far-reaching 
l)lans  and   true    nobility  of  character,   was   surpassed 


Edwards  Memorial.  1 5 1 

by  few  men  of  his  generation.     I  am  happy  to  intro- 
duce to  you  William  W.  Edwards,  Esq.,  of  Brooklyn, 

N.Y. 

WILLIAM   W.    EDWARDS'S    STATEMENTS. 

Ladies  a\d  Gentlemen,  —  Allow  me  to  congrat- 
ulate you  that  so  many  of  the  descendants  of  our 
venerated  ancestor  are  enabled  to  meet  on  this  inter- 
esting occasion  in  this  beautiful  village,  where  he 
spent  an  important  period  of  his  life,  and  where  he 
composed  some  of  his  most  valued  works.  Taken 
away  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood  and  usefulness, 
the  care  of  his  orphan  family  devolved  largely  upon 
his  oldest  son  Timothy,  who,  after  graduating  at 
Princeton,  had  married  Miss  Rhoda  Ogden  of  Eliza- 
bethtown,  N.J.,  and  had  settled  in  the  midst  of  her 
relatives  as  a  merchant. 

The  brief  residence  of  the  president  at  Stockbridge 
gave  this  son  an  opportunity  to  discover  the  great 
value  of  its  location  for  mercantile  business  with  the 
settlers,  who  were  drawing  rich  harvests  of  wheat  from 
its  virgin  soil  ;  and  in  the  year  1771  he  removed  his 
family — wife  and  six  small  children  —  hither,  and 
opened,  it  is  believed,  the  first  store  in  the  county  of 
Berkshire,  greatly  prospering. 

He  built  the  house  now  owned  by  Mr.  Henry 
Owen,  on  the  green,  occupying  the  east  part  of  it  for 
a  store.  He  soon  gained  the  esteem  and  confidence 
of  the  people,  and  became  a  leader  among  them.  He 
was  a  decided  Whig  through  the  Revolutionary  period  ; 
was  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  in  1776 
for  the  county  ;  was  commissary  of  supplies  for  the 
United-States  army  ;  and  devoted  his  private  means 


152  Edwards  Memorial. 

without  stint  to  aid  the  government,  and  advance  the 
cause  of  freedom  in  every  possible  way. 

My  father,  Col.  William  Edwards,  his  sixth  child, 
had  a  distinct  recollection  (being  then  five  years  and  a 
half  old),  that,  one  sabbath  morning,  Squire  Wood- 
bridge  and  Deacon  Nash  came  to  his  house  with  each  a 
loaded  musket ;  and,  after  a  few  moments'  consultation 
with  his  father,  the  three  went  out  on  to  the  green  in 
front  of  the  house,  and  each  discharged  his  gun  in  quick 
succession  ;  that  presently  armed  men  came  in  by  all 
the  roads  centring  there  ;  that  Dr.  West  came  down 
from  the  hill  among  them  ;  that  all  gathered  in  the 
porch  and  in  front  while  the  good  doctor  commended 
them  to  the  divine  protection  and  blessing  ;  when 
the  company  formed,  and  marched  towards  Cambridge. 
Before  twelve  o'clock,  noon,  they  had  news  of  the 
battle  of  Lexington. 

When  Schuyler's  army  had  gathered  at  Albany 
to  repel  Burgoyne's  invasion,  a  messenger  was  de- 
spatched to  him,  requiring  two  thousand  crowns  in 
silver  for  contingencies  before  the  army  could  move 
forward.  The  money  was  sent,  the  invader  was 
captured,  forming  one  of  the  crowning  events  of  the 
war. 

These  advances  were  repaid  in  Continental  money, 
which  his  patriotism  constrained  him  to  hold  ;  so  that, 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  his  whole  personal  estate  was 
swallowed  in  its  almost  total  depreciation.  He 
was  afterwards  a  judge  of  probate,  and  filled  many 
offices  of  trust  and  responsibility  in  the  town  and 
county.  I  knew  him  well  the  first  sixteen  years 
of  my  life.  He  was  a  fine  specimen  of  the  old 
school  ;  wore  a  drab   suit,  standing  collar,  and  white 


Edwards  Memorial.  153 

top-boots  ;  whose  presence  commanded  respect  from 
all  who  saw  him.  He  died  in  18 12.  His  remains, 
with  those  of  his  wife,  repose  in  the  beautiful  cemetery 
opposite  this  church  ;  while  the  remains  of  twelve  of 
his  children  are  scattered  from  Maine  to  South  Caro- 
lina, and  west  to  the  Great  Lakes,  —  one  only  surviv- 
ing, now  ninety  years  of  age. 

My  first  introduction  to  his  family  was  on  this  wise: 
Three  boys  of  us,  aged  eight  and  six  years  and  six 
months,  were  brought  over  from  Northampton,  in 
1805,  in  a  sleigh,  through  a  driving  snow-storm,  by 
our  parents,  over  the  Becket  Hills,  to  Stockbridge,  in 
a  day  and  a  half,  with  severe  exposure.  These  three 
boys  are  here  to-day,  —  two  of  them  the  oldest  pres- 
ent who  have  the  name  of  Edwards. 

This  beautiful  village  now  presents  many  of  the 
features  of  that  hour.  Its  skirt  of  mountains  and 
hills  ;  its  meadows,  and  the  swift  river  which  flows 
through  them ;  its  broad  streets  and  lanes,  now  so 
beautifully  shaded  by  the  growth  of  its  trees,  —  are 
but  little  changed. 

We  lived  in  the  plain  house,  now  greatly  improved, 
and  owned  by  Hon.  J.  Z.  Goodrich,  —  the  first  house  to 
the  left  as  you  enter  the  village  from  the  dcpjt ;  the 
iron  horse  and  his  solid  rails  having  superseded  the 
old  paths.  His  fine  meadow  lay  over  the  way  up 
the  Housatonic  ;  and  his  large  farm  was  imbosomcd 
in  the  Tyringham  Mountain,  about  a  mile  south  of 
his  residence,  —  a  famous  place  in  that  day  for  straw- 
berries. 

There  was  the  fine  old  mansion  of  Judge  Sedgwick, 
imbosomed,  then  as  now,  with  shade-trees  and  flow- 
ers,—  only  smaller  trees  and  fewer  flowers. 


154  Edivards  Memorial. 

I  was  early  taught  to  reverence  the  fearless  old  judge, 
who  decided  that  the  plain  language  of  the  Bill  of 
Rights  of  the  nation  meant  as  it  read,  "  That  all  men 
were  created  free  and  equal,"  &c.  ;  thereby  striking 
off  the  chains  of  every  slave  in  the  State.  What 
torrents  of  blood,  to  which  many  members  of  this 
great  family  have  contributed  their  full  quota,  would 
have  been  spared,  had  this  decision  been  confirmed 
by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  as  it  should 
have  been!  The  house  my  grandfather  built,  then 
Owned  and  occupied  by  Barnabas  Bidwell,  the  great 
Democratic  lawyer  of  that  day,  now  owned  and 
greatly  improved  by  Mr.  Owen  ;  the  old  tavern  and 
stage-house  of  Mrs.  Bingham,  on  the  corner ;  the 
academy,  where  our  cousin  Sally  Woodbridge  first 
taught  our  young  ideas  how  "  to  shoot  "  at  the  public 
school  therein  ;  the  dwelling  of  Squire  Woodbridge, 
and  many  others,  —  all  more  or  less  modernized, — 
still  mark  the  abodes  of  elegance  and  ease  ;  while  the 
appearance  of  such  numbers  of  strangers  here  to-day, 
sharing  so  largely  the  hospitality  of  the  citizens,  is 
evidence  unmistakable  that  the  present  generation  of 
its  citizens  are  the  worthy  descendants  and  succes- 
sors of  its  early  founders. 

Mr.  Woodbridge.  —  There  are  many  present  who 
remember  the  beautiful  Louisa  Hopkins.  She  was 
the  aunt  of  Pres.  Hopkins.  One  of  her  sons  is 
here  to-day.  He  was  born  in  the  house  where  Lucy 
Edwards  lived  and  died.  Whatever  his  speech  may 
be,  his  "  bodily  presence  "  at  least,  as  you  see,  is  not 
"  contemptible."  I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing 
Joseph  Effingham  Woodbridge,  Esq.,  of  Brooklyn, 
N.Y. 


Edwards  Memorial.  155 

REMARKS   OF   JOSEPH    E.    WOODBRIDGE. 

Mr.  Chairman,  —  I  was  deeply  interested  when  I 
was  informed  that  this  meeting  was  to  be  held  in  my 
native  village  of  Stockbridge. 

And,  sir,  I  feel  under  personal  obligations  to  you 
for  the  persistent  efforts  that  have  contributed  in  so 
large  a  degree  to  secure  this  gathering  of  the  "  clan  " 
from  such  distant  and  different  points  of  our  common 
country. 

We  are  convened  under  very  happy  auspices,  and 
surrounded  by  very  pleasant  associations.  It  gives 
me  great  pleasure  to  meet  you,  and  extend  to  you  all 
my  cordial,  personal  congratulations. 

We  meet  as  the  descendants  of  a  great  and  good 
man,  whose  character  we  admire,  whose  labors  we 
honor  ;  who  illustrated  the  power  of  the  gospel  by  his 
earnest  and  well-spent  life.  We  have  always  been 
taught  to  cherish  his  memory.  We  rejoice  to  believe 
that  his  example  and  his  writings'  are  still  working 
down  through  the  centuries  of  time,  and  accomplish- 
ing the  ends  for  which  he  labored  while  here  on  the 
earth. 

When  I  look  around  upon  this  assemblage,  the 
inquiry  naturally  suggests  itself,  "The  fathers  —  where 
are  they  .^  and  the  prophets — do  they  live  forever.''" 
We  of  the  third  generation  are  here,  and  are  now  the 
fathers.  We  stand  in  the  front  rank.  Some  of  us, 
more  or  less  recently,  have  been  called  to  part  with 
friends  that  were  very  dear  to  us  ;  who,  had  they 
lived  to  this  time,  would  have  felt  the  deepest  inter- 
est in  this  meeting.  We  are  soon  to  follow  them, 
and  our  children  are  to  fill  our  places. 


156  Edivards  Memorial. 

When  my  grandfather,  Jahleel  Woodbridge,  had 
become  old,  and  his  eyes  were  dim  by  reason  of  age, 
he  asked  my  father  every  day  to  read  to  him  from  the 
Bible  ;  and  he  often  requested  him  to  read  from  Deu- 
teronomy. It  was  matter  of  curiosity  with  me  why 
this  particular  portion  of  Holy  Scripture  had  such  at- 
traction for  him.  I  concluded  it  was  because  the 
providence  of  God  in  that  book  had  such  manifest 
development,  and  because  such  specific  instructions 
are  given  for  teaching  children  the  words  of  God,  as 
in  that  remarkable  passage,  —  "  And  thou  shalt  teach 
them  diligently  unto  thy  children,  and  shalt  talk 
of  them  when  thou  sittest  in  thine  house,  and  when 
thou  walkest  by  the  way,  and  when  thou  liest  down, 
and  when  thou  risest  up."  On  one  occasion,  when 
thinking  on  this  subject,  I  opened  to  the  thirty-third 
chapter,  which  begins,  "  And  this  is  the  blessing 
wherewith  Moses,  the  man  of  God,  blessed  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  before  his  death  :  and  he  said,  The  Lord 
came  from  Sinai,  and  rose  up  from  Seir  unto  them  ; 
he  shined  forth  from  Mount  Paran,  and  he  came  with 
ten  thousand  of  saints  :  from  his  right  hand  went  a 
fiery  law  for  them,"  &c.  I  could  not  but  think  the 
whole  chapter  must  have  afforded  him  the  richest 
Christian  delight. 

It  was  on  such  sublime  truths  the  men  of  that  gen- 
eration fed ;  on  such  revelations  of  the  wondrous 
power  and  faithfulness  of  God,  which  wrought  in 
them  the  fidelity  and  strength  of  Christian  character 
which  call  forth  our  respect,  and  deserve  our  imitation. 
He,  and  his  brother-in-law  Timothy  Edwards,  lived 
here  in  Stockbridge.  My  father  has  often  said  that 
his   father  and   Timothy   were    bosom-friends.     They 


Edwards  Memorial.  157 

were  about  the  same  age,  lived  near  each  other,  and 
were  much  together.  Eighty  years  ago,  Squire  Ed- 
wards and  Judge  Woodbridge  were  famihar  names  in 
Stockbridge. 

Both  of  these  good  men  thought  every  thing  of 
family  influence,  of  the  proper  training  of  children. 
They  both  had  large  families  ;  and  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  few  families  in  Stockbridge  were  under  better 
discipline.  Household  religion  was,  with  them,  a 
matter  of  deep  concern  :  they  endeavored  to  make 
it  a  reality.  In  each  family,  there  were  eight  or  ten 
children  that  grew  up  ;  and  all,  we  think,  of  both 
families,  lived  and  died  with  a  good  Christian  name. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  understand  that  it  is  in  contempla- 
tion to  erect  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  Pres.  Ed- 
wards ;  to  locate  it  on  the  ground  where  the  mission- 
chapel  stood,  and  where  the  Rev.  John  Sergeant  first 
labored  for  the  benefit  of  the  Stockbridge  tribe  of 
Indians,  and  where  Edwards,  his  successor,  took  up 
the  work,  and,  for  nearly  seven  years,  labored  in  the 
gospel  for  his  red  and  white  brethren. 

Sir,  let  us  build  this  monument,  and  locate  it  on 
that  sacred  spot  in  this  beautiful  Valley  of  the  Housa- 
tonic  ;  and,  in  the  words  of  Webster  at  the  completion 
of  the  monument  on  Bunker  Hill,  "may  the  earliest 
light  of  the  morning  gild  it,  and  the  last  rays  of  the 
setting  sun  linger  and  play  on  its  summit !  " 

We  are  soon  to  meet  for  the  last  time  around  those 
tables  spread  by  the  hospitable  people  of  Stockbridge 
under  yonder  capacious  tent.  We  shall  then  sepa- 
rate. But  I  believe  we  shall  meet  again  in  our  heav- 
enly home  in  our  Father's  house,  with  our  Elder 
Brother  and  our  kindred  who  have  gone  before   us, 


158  Edwards  Memorial. 

where  our  social  enjoyments  will  be  perpetual  with 
each  other  and  with  Him  who  has  redeemed  us  by 
his  blood,  and  we  shall  go  no  more  out  forever. 

Mr.  Woodbridge.  —  The  women  of  the  Edwards 
family  have  ever  been  distinguished  for  character. 
They  are  still  a  power  in  the  land.  How  much  is  due 
to  their  sweet  and  gentle  influence,  their  earnest 
prayers  and  Christian  example,  their  faith  and  works 
combined,  eternity  only  will  reveal. 

And  they  come  to  this  gathering  from  the  South 
and  from  the  West. 

Mrs.  Mary  Bayard  Clarke,  accompanied  by  two 
of  her  sons  and  her  daughter,  is  here  to-day  from 
Newbern,  N.C. 

Mrs.  Clarke  is  the  grand-daughter  of  Mrs.  Fran- 
ces Devereux,  who  was  herself  a  grand-daughter 
of  Pres.  Edwards.  "  Mrs.  Devereux  was  a  woman  of 
remarkable  intellectual  endowments  ;  and  was  famed 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  both  North  and  South, 
for  her  piety  and  liberality."  It  will  be  seen  that 
Mrs.  Clarke  inherits  in  no  small  degree  the  intellect 
and  genius  of  her  honored  grandmother. 

I  am  happy  to  introduce  to  you  Prof.  Frank  D. 
Clarke,  of  the  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb, 
New-York  City,  who  will  make  a  few  remarks,  and 
will  read  a  poem  furnished  for  the  occasion  by  his 
mother. 

REMARKS 

BY     FRANK     D.     CLARKE; 

AND    POEM. 
We  are  gathered  here  to-day  not  only  in  memory 
of  our  renowned  ancestor,  but  also,   I  hope,  to  form 


Edwards  Memorial.  159 

friendships  among  ourselves,  —  friendships  which  shall 
place  these  two  days  among  the  pleasant  memories 
of  life,  and  cause  them,  in  life's  checkered  calendar,  to 
be  mai'ked  evermore  with  white. 

In  my  whole  life,  I  have  never  before  had"\he  good 
fortune  even  to  see  such  an  assembly  a:;  this,  —  one 
so  large,  so  cultivated  and  refined,  and  though  from 
so  many  different  States  of  the  Union,  yet  looking  up 
to  one  common  ancestor,  and  collected  Jiere,  on  the 
field  of  his  greatest  labors,  to  do  honor  to  his  illustri- 
ous name. 

I  feel  very  much  as  the  youngest  son  of  some  large 
family  must  when  he  is  "  stood  "  upon  a  table,  and  told 
to  declaim  before*an  assembled  host  of  uncles,  aunts, 
cousins,  brothers,  and  sisters  :  only  I  feel  a  thousand 
times  more  honored,  and  not  half  so  confident  of 
success. 

Wherever  I  have  wandered,  —  in  the  forests  of  Car- 
olina, or  on  the  prairies  of  Texas  ;  among  the  hills 
of  New  England,  or  by  the  bayous  of  Louisiana  ;  by 
the  borders  oi  the  Mississippi,  or  on  the  banks  of  the 
fiudson,  —  in  every  place  I  have  heard  the  name  of 
Jonathan  Edwards  extolled,  not  only  as  the  ablest 
metaphysician  from  Leibnitz  to  Kant,  and  the  great- 
est theologian  of  his  century,  but  as  the  brightest 
example  of  Christian  purity  and  humility  carried  into 
the  daily  affairs  of  life.  And  the  fact  that  his  blood 
flows  in  my  veins  has  been  one  of  those  things 
which  I  have  always  mentioned  with  a  blush  of  hon- 
est pride. 

Whether  teaching  the  savage  Housatonnucks,  or 
the  enlightened  students  of  Princeton  ;  whether  ad- 
dressing his  congregation  with  his  voice,  or  the  whole 


i6o  Edwards  Alemorial. 

English-speaking  world,  both  present  and  to  come, 
with  his  pen,  —  he  never  forgot  to  live  as  though  the 
present  hour  would  be  his  last.  To  know  his  duty, 
and  to  perform  it,  was  the  object  he  kept  constantly 
in  sight.  Well  would  it  be  for  America  if  her  young 
men  would  take  him  for  an  example,  and  strive,  if  not 
to  equal  him  in  Intellect,  at  least  to  imitate  his  Chris- 
tian, God-fearing  life. 

But  of  the  fame  of  Edwards  it  is  needless  for  me 
to  speak.  His  name  will  ring  through  the  world  ; 
his  works  will  be  read  when  most  of  the  hosts  of  war- 
riors, statesmen,  poets,  and  orators,  who  have  arisen 
since,  shall  be  known  no  more  ;  and  the  names  of 
Washington,  Franklin,  and  Edwards, — America's  pa- 
triot, philosopher,  and  divine,  —  will  be  remembered 
as  long  as  she  shall  continue  a  nation. 

I  trace  my  descent  from  Pres.  Edwards  through 
one  of  his  daughters.  Perhaps  it  is  owing  to  this  fact 
that  I  am  so  strongly  in  favor  of  woman's  rights;  at 
least,  in  favor  of  that  right  of  every  woman  to  get  all 
the  work  she  can  out  of  every  man.  Believing  in  this 
right  of  woman,  I  am  here  to-day  to  read  the  follow- 
ing poem,  written  by  my  mother,  Mrs.  Mary  Bayard 
Clarke  of  North  Carolina  :  — 


Who  is  this  we  come  to  honor  .'' 

'Tis  no  hero  of  renown, 
Who,  amid  the  rush  of  battle, 

Seized  a  deathless  laurel -crown. 

'Tis  no  statesman  famed  in  council, 
Who,  with  skill  and  wisdom  great, 

Steered  through  reefs  and  shoals  and  quicksands 
Into  port  the  Ship  of  State. 


Edwards  Alemorial.  i6i 

'Tis  no  poet,  all  impassioned, 

And  by  genius  true  inspired  ; 
Nor  a  speaker,  fervid,  glowing, 

Who  his  country's  heart  hath  fired. 

Stars  like  these  in  clusters  have  we, 

Who  to  fame  are  not  unknown  ; 
But  the  one  we  come  to  honor 

In  his  glory  shines  alone. 

Monarch  of  a  realm  majestic. 

Where  no  action  could  intrude, 
He,  an  iceberg  on  Time's  ocean, 

Floats  in  mighty  solitude. 

P'ancy  lends  his  fame  no  brightness  ; 

Thougli  at  times  her  dyes  are  wrought. 
Round  the  lofty  pinnacles 

Of  his  pure,  clear,  icy  thought. 

His  was  not  the  tongue  of  fire 

Which  his  hearers  swayed  at  will ; 
But  his  voice  was  that  of  reason. 

Irresistible  and  still. 

And  o'er  heroes,  statesmen,  poets. 

Great  logician  and  divine. 
With  thy  calm  and  steady  radiance 

Thou  torevermore  shalt  shine  ; 

For  thou  wert  no  freak  of  Nature, 

Wert  no  meteor  flashing  bright. 
But  the  sun  of  Reason's  system, 

Giving  to  the  world  thy  light. 

Hon.  Jonathan  Edwards  of  New  Haven  here  made 
some  very  interesting  statements  respecting  the  por- 
traits of  Pres.  Edwards  and  wife,  which  hung,  dur- 
ing the  whole  meeting,  one  on  cither  side  of  the 
pulpit. 


1 62  Edwards  Memorial. 

REMARKS 

OF  JONATHAN    EDWARDS    OF    NEW    IIAVEN,    CONN.,    ON    THE    PICTURES 
OF    REV.   JONATHAN    EDWARDS   AND    HIS    WIFE    SARAH    PIERREPONT. 

The  original  portraits  of  Pres.  Edwards  and  his 
wife  are  now  in  possession  of  the  family  of  the  late 
Jonathan  Walter  Edwards,  Esq.,  of  Hartford,  Conn. 
They  were  painted  about  the  year  1740,  in  Boston,  at 
the  request  and  expense,  it  is  believed,  of  a  Mr.  Hogg, 
and  were  forwarded  to  him  in  Scotland.  At  the 
decease  of  Mr.  Hogg  they  passed  into  the  hands  of 
his  sister,  who  presented  them  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Erskine  of  Edinburgh.  After  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, my  grandfather,. the  Rev.  Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards, 
the  second  son  of  the  president,  made  application  to 
Dr.  Erskine  to  purchase  the  portraits  ;  and  the  latter 
gentleman  declined  to  sell  them :  but,  on  learning 
that  no  other  portraits  ot  the  president  and  his  wife 
existed,  he  sent  them  to  this  country  as  a  present  to 
Dr.  Edwards  ;  and  they  have  remained  in  my  father's 
family  since  the  death  of  his  father  in  1801. 

This  is  the  tradition  in  the  family  respecting  these 
portraits.  I  regret  that  no  additional  facts  have  been 
ascertained  ;  nor  can  any  letters  regarding  them  now 
be  found.  I  am  indebted  to  my  aunt,  the  late  Mrs. 
Mary  Hoyt,  who  was  the  oldest  daughter  of  my  grand- 
father, for  the  tradition  as  here  given.  The  pictures 
probably  reached  this  country  toward  the  close  of 
the  last  century  ;  as  the  Rev.  Timothy  Woodbridge, 
a  grandson  of  Pres.  Edwards,  says  in  his  autobiog- 
raphy that  he  visited  his  uncle  in  Colebrook,  Conn., 
in  1798,  when  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  his  age,  and 
there    saw  those  pictures,  —  a  fact  which    he   recol- 


Edwards  Memo^Hal.  163 

lected  through  a  long  life  of  subsequent  blindness 
with  satisfaction  and  pleasure.  I  have  myself  a  dis- 
tinct remembrance  of  the  arrival  of  those  pictures  at 
my  father's  house  in  Hartford  after  the  death  of  Dr. 
Edwards  in  1801.  They  remained  there  until  the 
death  of  my  father  in  1831,  and  have  since  been  care- 
fully preserved  by  my  sisters. 

These  portraits  were  probably  painted  by  John 
Smybert ;  but  this  is  not  capable  of  demonstration. 
Rev.  Sereno  Edwards  Dwight,  in  his  Life  of  Pres. 
Edwards,  states  that  they  were  painted  in  Boston 
about  the  year  1 740,  and-  that  the  president  and  his 
wife  went  to  Boston  to  sit  for  them  ;  the  journey  from 
Northampton  having,  it  is  said,  been  made  on  horse- 
back. There  were  at  that  time  but  two  portrait- 
painters  in  Boston,  Smybert  and  Blackburn  ;  and  the 
former  had  the  best  reputation.  Smybert  came  to 
this  country  in  1728  with  Dean  (afterwards  Bishop) 
Berkeley,  who  came  here  with  the  object  of  founding 
a  college  in  Bermuda.  He  brought  Smybert  with 
him  as  an  artist  of  reputation,  who  had  studied  in 
Italy,  and  who  would  probably  become  "professor 
of  drawing,  painting,  and  architecture,  in  his  intended 
institution."  Bishop  Berkeley  established  himself 
at  Newport,  R.  I.,  and  remained  there  about  two 
years  ;  but,  his  plans  and  his  funds  failing,  he  re- 
linquished his  design,  and  returned  to  England. 
Smybert,  however,  preferred  to  remain  here,  and 
established  himself  in  Boston  in  1730,  where  he  re- 
mained until  his  decease  in  175 1.  Hon.  Gulian  C. 
Verplanck  says  of  him  and  his  pictures,  that  "the 
best  portraits  we  have  of  eminent  magistrates  and 
divines  of  New  riniiland   and   New  York,  who  lived 


164  Edwards  Manorial. 

between  1725  and  175 1,  are  from  his  pencil."  Of 
Blackburn  all  that  we  know  is  that  he  was  nearly- 
contemporary  with  Smybert,  and  painted  very  re- 
spectable portraits  in  Boston.  William  Dunlap,  in 
his  "  History  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Arts  of 
Design  in  the  United  States,"  says  that  "  Smybert 
had  a  powerful  and  lasting  effect  on  the  arts  of  design 
in  this  country.  We  see  the  influence  of  Smybert 
and  his  works  upon  Copley,  Trumbull,  and  Allston." 
There  is  in  the  Trumbull  Gallery  at  Yale  College  a 
large  picture  painted  by  Smybert,  representing  Bishop 
Berkeley  and  his  family,  together  with  the  artist  him- 
self, on  their  first  landing  in  America,  —  the  largest 
picture  then  ever  painted  in  the  United  States  ;  and 
it  is  stated  also  to  be  the  first  picture  painted  in  this 
country  that  embraced  more  than  a  single  figure. 
This  picture  represents  the  bishop,  his  wife  and  child, 
a  young  lady,  and  three  gentlemen,  friends  of  the 
family.  In  style  of  painting  and  of  execution  it  cor- 
responds with  that  of  the  portraits  of  Pres.  Edwards 
and  his  wife  very  strongly  ;  which  leads  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  they  were  painted  by  the  same  artist. 

It  has  been  stated  that  these  portraits  were  painted 
by  Copley.  But  this  is  improbable,  as  Copley  was  but 
thirteen  years  of  age  when  Smybert  died  in  175  i,  and 
but  three  years  old  when  these  portraits  were  painted. 

The  portraits  exhibited  at  Stockbridge  were  painted 
about  the  year  1828  by  Rembrandt  Peale  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  are  now  in  the  possession  of  Eli  Whit- 
ney, Esq.,  of  New  Haven,  Conn.  Copies  painted  by 
J.  H.  Shegogue,  formerly  of  New-York  City,  about  the 
year  1845,  are  now  owned  by  Dr.  T.  D wight  Porter 
of  New  York.     At  a  later  date,  E.  A.  Loop  of   New 


Edwards  Memorial.  165 

York  made  a  number  of  copies,  which  are  now  owned 
by  Alfred  Edwards  and  Jonathan  Edwards,  Esqs.,  of 
New- York  City,  by  William  Samuel  Johnson,  Esq.,  of 
Stratford,  Conn.,  and  by  Prof.  Edwards  A.  Park  of  An- 
dover,  Mass.  By  the  same  artist,  copies  of  the  picture 
of  the  president  were  painted,  which  are  now  in  the 
galleries  of  Yale  and  Princeton  Colleges.  The  family 
owning  the  originals  will  cheerfully  afford  lacilities 
for  copying  them  whenever  requested. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Edwards's  remarks,  a  re- 
cess was  proposed,  during  which  the  whole  family 
present  were  photographed.  The  picture  was  taken 
on  the  green  in  front  of  the  church,  under  an  elm- 
tree,  and  within  a  few  feet  of  the  very  spot  where 
stood  the  old  Indian  meeting-house  in  which  Edwards 
preached  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  pic- 
ture proved  to  be  a  good  one,  and  is  highly  valued  by 
those  who  possess  it. 

This  occupied  nearly  three-quarters  of  an  hour, 
when  the  exercises  were  resumed  in  the  church. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order  ;  and  the  chairman 
introduced  to  the  audience  Col.  Mason  W.  Tyler  of 
New  York,  son  of  Prof  Tyler  of  Amherst,  one  of  the 
descendants,  as  the  reader  of  the 

MEMORIAL    POEM 

BY  MRS.  SARAH  EDWARDS  TYLER  HENSHAW  OE  OTTAWA,  ILL. 

•     OUR    ROLL   OF    HONOR. 
L 

Cousins  of  near  and  of  remote  degree, 
Nourished  by  sap  of  the  same  fruitful  tree, 


1 66  Edwards  Memorial. 

More  distant  branches  some,  while  others  run 
Directly  from  the  stem,  —  our  Jonathan, — 
Whether  the  Edwards  name  ye  proudly  wear, 
Or  titles  scarcely  less  familiar  bear,  — 
TJiese  who  the  Pierrepont  and  the  Ogden  write, 
And  tJiose  who  claim  the  Davenport  and  Dwight,  — 
Woolsey  and  Winthrop,  Whitney,  Devereux, 
Parsons  and  Porter,  —  better  names  few  show,  — 
Woodbridge  and  Williams,  Sedgwick,  Park,  and  Whi- 
ting, 
Tyler,  Cornelius,  Johnson,  —  all  uniting. 
With  hands  extended,  and  with  words  of  greeting, 
We  bid  yoLi  welcome  to  this  Edwards  meeting. 


II. 

To  take  appropriate  and  fit  position 
Such  as  will  suit  the  family  tradition, 
I  ought  to  say  that  hither  we  have  sped 
(Hereto,  through  free-will  and  fore-ordination. 
Predestined,  doubtless,  from  the  world's  foundation) 
In  recognition  of  our  Federal  Head, 
Jonathan  Edwards  ;  whom  the  Muse  doth  paint 
Metaphysician,  author,  preacher,  saint. 
His  works  we  have,  bound  in  enduring  calf, 
(Excepting  for  the  learned,  too  deep  by  half;) 
Ikit  that  they  really  are  with  us  still, 
In  livinq  forms  of  "  Edwards  on  the  Will," 
Witness,  yc  Edzvards  wives  !  who  one  and  all 
Are  forced  to  sec  how  fell  we  at  the  P^all ! 
Total  depravity  —  forgive  the  hint  — 
They  (orthodox  !)  believe  in  without  stint ! 


Edwards  MemoiHal.  167 

III. 
And,  first,  a  backward  look  is  meet  and  right 
At  him  in  whom  our  blood  and  name  unite. 
Let  then  Great  Jonathan,  immortal  shade  ! 
Stand  forth,  a  vision  to  our  eyes  displayed. 
Mark  the  grand  mien ;  the  distant,  cold  gray  eyes  ; 
And,  as  he  enters,  like  his  children  rise,  — 
Rise,  and,  like  them,  in  reverent  silence  stand 
Till  seated  by  a  gesture  of  his  hand. 
Then  listen  to  his  words,  nor  dare  presume 
To  speak  so  long  as  he  is  in  the  room. 
When  he  departs,  once  more  obeisance  pay ; 
And  once  more  rise  as  soft  he  glides  away. 

IV. 

The  times  are  changed  ;  and  vainly  we  inquire 

To-day  for  such  respect  from  son  to  sire. 

Let  us  confess  these  are  degenerate  days. 

And  from  this  lesson  mend  our  modern  ways. 

Truly  the  times  are  changed  ;  and,  treasured  deep, 

This  strong  example  let  us  inly  keep. 

Surely  the  Edwards  face  should  not  neglect 

To  offer  or  exact  a  due  respect. 

Not  only  love  let  us  our  children  teach. 

But  prompt  obedience  and  fitting  speech. 

And  all  set  forth  by  such  a  manner  meet 

As  only  makes  affection  quite  complete. 

v. 
The  silver  porringer  from  which  he  ate 
While  pondering  the  deep  decrees  of  fate ; 
The  city  fair,  within  whose  classic  shades 
He  wooed  and  won  the  loveliest  of  maids ; 


1 68  Edwards  Memorial. 

The  giant  elm,  beneath  whose  branches  grand 
His  philosophic  works  he  sat  and  planned  ; 
The  college,  where  his  memory,  like  a  shrine, 
Sheds,  as  is  held,  a  lustre  nigh  divine  ; 
Stockbridge,  Northampton,  Princeton,  each  a  name 
Wrought  with  his  own  in  an  enduring  iame  ; 
And  fair  New  Haven,  birthplace  of  his  wife, — 
Round  the  still  picture  of  our  sire's  still  life. 

VI. 

But,  though  that  life  stole  silently  along, 

Think  not  it  lacked  a  current  deep  and  strong. 

Behold  him  in  the  pulpit !  —  as  a  seer 

He  handles  heights  and  depths,  the  far  and  near  : 

Forth  flash  the  lightnings  from  those  dark  gray  eyes, 

As,  painting  sin,  and  challenging  the  skies. 

The  sinner's  deep  damnation  he  portrays. 

And  points  to  reeling  worlds  and  hell  ablaze  ! 

Men  listen,  mutely  cowering  in  amaze, 

Then  shuddering  sob,  and  rise  as  if  to  fly ; 

While  women  shriek,  and,  fainting,  prostrate  lie  ; 

And  the  scared  pastor,  rallying  from  the  shock, 

Begs  him  to  spare  his  terror-smitten  flock ! 

vii. 
From  sacred  desk  to-day  we  seldom  hear 
The  ponderous  terms  unto  our  fathers  dear  : 
Like  Titans  with  the  rocks  in  times  of  old. 
They  fought  with  weapons  we  could  never  hold. 
"  The  federal  headship,"  "  the  effectual  call," 
"  Predestination,"  "sin  original," 
"  God's  sovereignty,"  "  imputed  righteousness," 
"  The  twofold  covenant  of  works  and  grace," 


Edwards  Memorial.  169 

"  Free-will,"  "  election,"  and  "  fore-ordinalion," 

"  Total  depravity"  and  "  reprobation," 

"  Saints'  perseverance"  and  God's  deep  "  decrees,"  — 

Although  we  hear  but  little  now  of  these, 

We  yet  may  humbly  hope  to  us  are  given 

Faith,  hope,  and  charity  beloved  of  Heaven. 

VIII. 

Theology,  'tis  thus  the  Muse  declares. 

Is  but  the  costume  which  Religion  wears. 

In  shape  and  fit  the  garments  widely  range  ; 

But  the  sweet  form  beneath  them  knows  no  change. 

The  same  in  every  race,  in  every  age. 

The  same  as  painted  on  the  sacred  page. 

Love  is  her  life,  love  is  her  essence  fine, — 

Love  for  her  brother-man  and  God  divine. 

Sometimes  her  votaries  adoring  praise 

Her  tender  sweetness,  her  majestic  ways ; 

Anon  some  more  devoted  worshipper 

Is  moved  to  wrath  at  those  who  love  not  Jier. 

IX. 

Thus  was  our  ancestor  :  his  spirit  stern 

With  central  fires  intense  thus  came  to  burn. 

Like  Babylonian  shrine  of  sacrifice, 

Seven  times  more  hot  the  flames  were  seen  to  rise. 

Because  within  that  fiery,  glowing  heart 

Walked  the  dear  Saviour  of  our  race  apart. 

What  though  the  flames  singed  those  who  came  too 

nigh  : 
What  though  the  heat  warned  other  some  to  fly : 
Thus  did  that  burning  soul  devotion  prove, 
And  thus  his  anger  measured  forth  his  love. 


lyo  Edwards  Memorial. 

X. 

Sweet  Sarah  Pierrepont !  'twere  no  act  of  grace 
Did  the  Muse  fail  to  call  tJice  forth  to-day : 

Sweet  ancestress  !  I  see  thy  radiant  face, 
Although  so  long  it  has  been  hid  in  clay. 

0  fair  and  pure  !  whose  tender  young  heart  turned 
Unto  our  sire  and  God  until  it  burned 

With  a  thrice  holy  flame  of  sacred  fire 

That  shot  up  heavenward,  higher  still,  and  higher, 

Bearing,  most  like  Manoah's  sacrifice. 

The  angel  that  thou  wast  into  the  skies. 

Sweet  mother !  thy  forgiveness  here  I  seek, 

If  gazing  in  thy  face,  which  seems  to  speak. 

With  sigh,  and  swelling  heart,  and  springing  ttar, 

1  thus  conjure  thee,  fancying  thou  canst  hear  :  — 

TO   THE   PORTRAIT   OF   SARAH    PIERREPONT. 

I. 

O  lustrous  eyes  so  dark  and  deep, 
Filled  with  a  shimmering  haze  ! 

O  eyes  that  holy  vigils  keep  ! 

Tears  into  mine  unbidden  leap 
As  I  return  your  gaze. 

Why  look  on  us  with  mild  surprise, 

Ancestress  of  the  beautiful  eyes.'' 


O  delicate  mouth  so  firm  and  sweet. 

So  tender  and  so  mild  ! 
Would  it  could  break  in  blessings  meet, 
And  words  of  wisdom  here  repeat 

Unto  thy  yearning  child  ! 


Edivards  Memorial.  171 

Even  thy  chiclings  would  confess, 
O  mother  fair  !  thy  tenderness. 

3- 
For,  though  thou  might'st  not  all  approve 

Thy  children  of  to-day, 
Thy  warnings  would  be  filled  with  love  ; 
And  sunlight,  as  from  heaven  above, 

Around  thy  words  would  play,  — 
A  light  to  guide  and  cheer  and  bless, 
O  dear  and  lovely  ancestress  ! 

4- 
•A  halo  seems  to  gild  thy  brow, 

A  radiance  not  of  earth 
Thee  doth  a  saintliness  endow, 
As  if  the  heaven  where  thou  art  now 

Dwelt  near  thee  from  thy  birth  ; 
And  I  could  fancy  thou  dost  pray 
For  us,  thy  children,  here  to-day. 


XI. 

In  making  up  our  roll  of  mark  and  fame, 
We  pause  at  one  illustrious,  clouded  name, 
Then  write  it  with  a  sigh.     Oh,  cease  to  slur. 
Harsh  critic,  our  proud,  brilliant  A.vro.n  Burr  ! 
In  Calvinism  stern  a  keen  adept, — 
Theology  which  he  could  ne'er  accept,  — 
Like  Noah's  dove  which  from  the  ark  arose, 
He  found  no  other  shelter  or  repose, 
liy  light  of  lurid  fires  yet  scarcely  dim, 
How  looks  the  justice  meted  out  to  him  } 


1/2  Edwards  Memorial. 

What  was  the  treason  of  a  dreamer's  brain 
To  that  which  hath  its  tens  of  thousands  slain  ? 
What  that  which  would  acquire  a  foreign  land 
To  that  against  its  own  which  raised  its  hand  ? 
And  wherefore  o'er  Burr's  memory  ceaseless  rave, 
While  Davis  goes  unchallenged  to  his  grave  ? 

XII. 

For  Burr,  then,  and  his  Theodosia,  rise 

From  us,  at  least,  regrets  and  sorrowing  sighs. 

The  child  of  Error,  but  of  Genius  too, 

We,  we,  at  least,  hold  not  his  faults  to  view : 

We  only  know  he  was  a  child  of  prayer  ; 

We  only  feel,  of  none  should  we  despair  ; 

Wc  only  think  how,  through  long,  anxious  years. 
Our  pious  Edwardses  with  hopes  and  fears 
For  his  salvation  wrestled,  prayed,  and  wept, 
Concerts  of  prayer  and  frequent  vigils  kept. 
Now  lay  a  wreath  upon  his  lowly  sod. 
And  leave  the  sleeper  with  his  fathers'  God. 

XIII. 

Noting  "the  second  president,"  —  the  son 

Of  Jonathan  the  first,  —  whose  name  has  won. 

Despite  his  father's  overshadowing  claim, 

A  place  conspicuous  on  our  roll  of  fame, 

The  Muse,  in  characters  of  living  light, 

Hastes  to  inscribe  the  lustrous  name  of  Dwight. 

Yale's  brilliant  president  in  by-gone  days. 

Winning  the  scholar's,  poet's,  author's  praise, 

With  gentle  dignity  almost  are  seen 

His  steps  still  moving  o'er  the  college-green  ; 

And  ever  on  that  college  from  afar 

Shines  his  pure  memory  as  a  radiant  star. 


Edwards^  MemoriaL  \  73 

XIV. 

Whether  or  no  the  Edwards  intellect 

To-day  is  such  as  challenges  respect, 

Although  the  Muse  too  modest  is  to  show  it, 

Speak  Wendell  Holmes,  philosopher" and  poet! 

The  Brahmins  of  New  England,  thus  he  says. 

Are  chiefly  found  in  certain  families, 

Of  whom  the  Edwards  line  is  one.     And  they  — 

These  Brahmins  —  form  our  ruling  caste  to-day,  — 

The  intellectual  nobles  of  mankind, 

Aristocrats  in  the  great  realm  of  mind. 

From  such  a  source  such  praise  is  choice  indeed  ; 
Permit  it  no  small  vanity  to  breed  ; 
But  rather  let  it  gratitude  evolve. 
Lofty  ambition,  and  a  high  resolve. 

XV. 

At  least,  we  know  our  Edwards  women  fair 

Have,  by  their  marriages,  brought  talent  rare, 

And  such  as  well  may  call  out  all  our  pride 

Into  the  line  to  which  they  are  allied,  — 

Hopkins,  the  theologian  and  the  sage. 

Original  thinker  of  a  thinking  age  ; 

Cornelius,  whose  rich  powers  of  mind  and  heart 

Drew,  in  his  manhood's  prime.  Death's  venomed  dart ; 

Sedgwick,  a  name  that  everywhere  doth  seem 

Of  talent  versatile  the  synonyme  ; 

Whitney,  whose  rare  inventive  genius  shone 

To  light  King  Cotton  to  his  Southern  throne  ; 

And  our  own  Park,  the  reverend  and  dear, 

The  wise  philosopher,  the  brilliant,  clear. 

And  learnetl  professor,  author,  wit,  divine. 

An  ornament  to  any  age  and  line. 


174  Edwards  Memorial. 

XVI. 

No  Edwards  now  at  Princeton,  Learning's  seat, 

Wakes  echo  with  his  presidential  feet  ; 

But  at  Yale  point  we  with  a  conscious  pride. 

Where  Woolsey  sits  revered,  the  chief  and  guide. 

Whatever  others  may  be  written  down, 

How  make  of  mar  tlie  family  renown, 

In  him  we  are  assured  great  Jonathan 

Would  recognize  his  true,  his  worthy  son. 

In  learning,  scholarship,  and  culture  fine. 

As  author,  teacher,  moralist,  divine. 

Him  do  we  own  —  who  will  the  Muse  gainsay  .-^  — 

Our  Edwards  representative  to-day. 


XVII. 

Our  Edwards  ladies  do  not  seem  to  share 
Concerning  "women's  rights"  the  present  care. 
If  any  are  "  strong-minded  "  found  the  while, 
(Save  in  the  practical,  old-fashioned  style, 
Of  late  so  oui"  of  vogue,  so  little  known,) 
Unto  the  Muse  it  hath  not  yet  been  shown. 
They  think  no  hardship  that  their  talents  fine 
Upon  their  families  should  chiefly  shine, 
But  rather  to  their  households  careful  look. 
As  witness  the  Cornelius  Cookery  Book  ! 
Almost  inspired,  how  shall  I  set  thee  forth } 
What  Edwards  work  excels  thee,  book  of  worth  .'' 
To  housekeeper  distressed,  to  novice  tried, 
Thou'rt  known  as  comforter  and  help  and  guide. 
And  prov'st  the  Edwards  mind  at  home  can  be 
In  metaphysics  or  gastronomy. 


Edivards  Memorial.  175 

XVIII. 

Elizabeth  Sedgwick's  pen  in  former  years 
Knew  how  to  reach  the  source  of  smiles  and  tears  ; 
The  children's  books  of  Laura  Johnson  lie 
On  nearest  shelf  of  many  a  library  ; 
Sweet  Mary  Porter,  by  far  China  seas, 
To-day. ease,  friends,  and  home  relinquishes, 
That  she  may  teach  her  heathen  sisters  there 
The  bliss  of  purity,  and  worth  of  prayer  ; 
While  Sarah  Cowen,  in  the  war  just  fought, 
With  head  and  heart  and  pen  so  grandly  wrought, 
As  with  Connecticut's  her  name  to  write 
On  page  historic,  in  enduring  light. 


XIX. 

And  the  dread  war  through  which  we  just  have  passed 
(Oh,  pray  sweet  Heaven  that  it  may  be  our  last !) 
Proved  that  in  loyalty  and  courage  grand 
Our  blood  compares  with  any  in  the  land. 
WiNTHROP,  with  whom  so  oft  beneath  the  shade 
Of  fair  New  Haven's  noble  elms  P-ve  strayed, 
Offer  what  word  can  I  to  swell  thy  praise  .■' 
What  leaf  contribute  to  thy  wreath  of  bays  .'' 
Who  would  have  thought  as  thus  we  gently  walked, 
'Who  would  have  thought  as  thus  we  playful  talked. 
That  storm  and  fire  and  blood  and  death  and  night 
Would   wrap    our   land,    and    snatch    thee    from    our 

sight .'' 
Warrior,  scholar,  author,  loyal  heart ! 
With  pen  and  sword  well  hast  thou  done  thy  part. 
Pass  on,  pass  on,  and  take  a  foremost  place 
Amonq;  the  choicest  of  our  blood  and  race. 


1 76  Edwards  Memorial. 

XX. 

Antietam,  field  of  blood  !  before  mine  eyes, 
Dimmed  with  quick-springing  tears,  dost  thou  arise. 
O  August  sun  !  remit  thy  fiercest  rays  ; 
O  sulphurous  clouds !  dissolve,  that  we  may  gaze 
Where  helpless,  wounded,  bleeding,  soon  to  die, 
William  Dwight  Sedgwick  doth  all  prostrate  lie. 
Far  in  the  front,  fallen  early  in  the  fray. 
With  heart  undaunted,  all  that  fearful  day 
'Twixt  the  two  armies  calmly  there  he  lay. 
While  thundering  cannon  shook  his  dying  bed. 
And  demon  shells  flew  screaming  o'er  his  head, — 
Lay,  and  inscribed  on  tablets  (oh,  how  dear !) 
Notes  of  the  fray,  words  of  farewell  and  cheer. 
O  grand  heroic  soul !  thy  courage  high 
Thrills  every  heart,  and  moistens  every  eye  : 
With  tender  pride  thy  kindred  speak  thy  name, 
And  to  the  gallant  Winthrop's  join  thy  fame.    • 

XXI. 

Poured  out  at  Wagner's  fierce,  tremendous  strife. 
Young  Robert  Sedgwick  Edwards  his  brave  life. 
Fair,  noble  boy  !  no  fragrant  flowers  of  May 
Thy  grave  shall  deck  on  the  Memorial  Day  ; 
For  where  thy  manly  form  went  down  in  death. 
Where  was  exhaled  thy  last  expiring  breath. 
To  mourning  kindred  never  may  be  known, 
That  we  may  mark  the  spot  with  tear  or  stone. 
Thy  sword  upon  the  rampart  thou  didst  wave, 
Then  sink  among  the  loyal,  true,  and  brave. 
Enough  that,  while  life  lasts,  a  brother's  sighs 
Unto  thy  memory  shall  as  incense  rise  ; 
Enough  that  still  a  sister's  sorrowing  tears 
Baptize  that  memory  through  the  lonely  years. 


Edwards  Memorial.  177 

XXII. 

Our  Tylers  of  Connecticut  —  a  rare 
Uncle  and  nephew,  patriotic  pair  !  — 
Flew  to  the  field  with  lofty  hearts  and  bold, 
And  from  the  strife  brought  honors  manifold.    • 
Each  won  a  general's  stars,  and  each  a  name 
Hailed  by  their  countrymen  with  loud  acclaim  : 
"  General  Robert  Ogden,"  "  General  Dan,"  — 
Young  hero  brave  and  brave  old  veteran,  — 
We  have  no  prouder  names  in  all  the  clan. 

XXIII. 

Of  social  dignities  and  titles  fair 

Thus  seems  it  that  our  race  has  had  its  share: 

Our  Edwards  to  philosophy  we've  lent, 

And  to  our  nation  a  vice-president  ; 

Our  judges  have  administered  the  laws  ; 

We've  had  our  generals  and  governors, 

Learned  professors,  college-presidents  ; 

Women  of  common  and  ^//common  sense  ; 

Poets  and  authors  have  adorned  our  line, 

The  missionary,  soldier,  and  divine  ; 

While  honorables,  D.D.'s,  and  LL.D.'s, 

Lie  'mong  us  like  the  leaves  in  autumn  breeze. 

Or,  in  more  common  parlance,  "thick  as  peas." 

XXIV. 

But  time  doth  fail.     The  Muse  with  warning  look 
Her  white  forefinger  hath  in  private  shook, 
And  whispered,  "  Cease  this  effort  to  indite  : 
The  worthies  of  this  line  who  all  could  write  .'' 
Unsaid,  unsung,  so  many  yet  remain, 
That  to  recount  them  all  were  all  in  vain. — 
12 


178  Edivards  Memorial. 

Whate'er  you  write,"  she  adds,  "  sermon  or  song. 
You  may  be  any  thing  except  too  long ; 
Whate'er  of  knowledge  you  have  sought  or  won, 
'Tis  nought  unless  you  know  when  to  have  done." 
Thus  warned,  1  haste  on  you,  O  Edwards  race ! 
To  pray  all  heavenly  good,  all  heavenly  grace. 
Long  may  it  wave,  the  green  old  family-tree, 
And  cast  its  shadow  broad  from  sea  to  sea  ! 
The  Edwards  Ime  —  may  it  forever  last ! 
The  Edwards  present  —  may  it  match  the  past ! 
The  Edwards  future  —  may  it  proudly  claim 
A  record  worthy  our  ancestral  fame  ! 

When  this  poem,  which  was  read  with  great  effect 
and  listened  to  with  deep  interest,  was  concluded,  the 
chairman  read  the  following  letter  received  by  him 
from  Rev.  William  B.  Sprague,  D.D.,  formerly  of  Al- 
bany, now  Flushing,  N.Y. :  — 

DR.   SPRAGUE'S    LETTER. 

Flushing,  L.I.,  Aug.  14,  1870. 

My  dear  Mr.  Woodsridge,  —  Your  very  kind 
request,  that  I  should  be  present  at  the  great  gather- 
ing in  honor  of  your  illustrious  ancestor,  I  regret  that 
I  shall  be  obliged  to  decline.  But  I  hardly  need  tell 
you  that  the  occasion  is  one  in  which  \,  in  common 
with  a  large  portion  of  the  Church,  feel  a  very  deep 
interest.  Though  Pres.  Edwards  had  been  in  his 
grave  more  than  thirty-five  years  before  my  birth,  I 
well  remember  that  his  name  was  a  household  word 
in  the  neighborhood  in  which  I  lived,  and  especially 
in  the  family  to  which  I  belonged.     The  book  of  which 


Edwards  MemoriaL  179 

I  have  more  vivid  recollections  than  any  other  in  my 
father's  house  was  a  volume  of  his  sermons  ;  and  there 
was  but  one  book  that  we  were  taught  to  regard  with 
higher  veneration.  Indeed,  I  may  say  that  I  was 
trained  to  a  feeling  of  reverence  whenever  I  took  his 
name  upon  my  lips  ;  and  the  fact  that  his  birthplace 
was  not  very  far  from  mine,  probably  rendered  the 
feeling  more  intense.  Well  do  I  remember  making 
diligent  inquiry  for  the  house  where  he  was  born  at 
East  Windsor  ;  and,  at  a  later  period,  for  the  house  in 
which  he  lived  at  Northampton  ;  and,  later  still,  at 
Stockbridge.  And,  familiar  as  I  have  been  with  the 
house  in  which  he  lived  and  died  at  Princeton,  I  think 
I  have  rarely  been  in  it  without  having  visions  of  his 
august  presence.  And  herein  I  suppose  that  I  am 
only  a  faithful  representative  of  a  large  portion  of  those 
who  have  enjoyed  the  same  opportunities. 

I  doubt  not  that  I  have  met  in  my  early  days  a  con- 
siderable number  who  have  seen  Pres.  Edwards,  and, 
perhaps,  some  who  knew  him  well  ;  but  the  only  indi- 
vidual whom  I  can  now  recall  as  having  enjoyed  the 
privilege  even  of  seeing  him  was  the  venerable  Dr. 
Lathrop  of  West  Springfield.  For  some  time  after 
Dr.  Lathrop's  pastorate  began  there,  he  was  a  boarder 
in  the  family  of  Mrs.  Hopkins,  who  was  Mr.  Edwards's 
sister.  Some  time  during  this  period  (I  think  it  must 
have  been  while  he  was  a  resident  of  Stockbridge),  he 
came  to  see  her  :  but  he  came  with  his  heart  burdened 
with  sorrow  on  account  of  having  just  heard  of  the 
death  of  some  very  dear  relative  ;  if  I  mistake  not, 
one  of  his  own  children.  When  the  evening-hour  for 
family  devotion  came,  Mr.  Lathrop  asked  Mr.  Edwards 
to  conduct  the  service  ;  but  he  declined,  on  the  ground 


i8o  Edwards  Memorial. 

that  his  sensibiHties  were  so  much  awakened  as  to 
prevent  his  continued  utterance.  The  next  morning, 
however,  when  his  spirit  had  become  more  calm,  he 
consented  to  officiate  ;  and  well  do  I  remember  Dr. 
Lathrop's  saying,  that  he  never  heard  another  prayer 
that  brought  heaven  and  earth  so  near  together.  The 
impressions  that  he  received  from  that  interview  were, 
that,  while  Mr.  Edwards  had  the  strongest  .natural 
affections,  he  had  a  measure  of  faith  that  could  ulti- 
mately control  their  exercise.  The  particulars  of  this 
interview  are  more  familiar  to  me  from  my  having 
heard  Dr.  Lathrop  repeat  them  in  a  conversation 
with  the  Rev.  Sereno  E.  Dwight,  then  of  Boston,  who 
was  interested  in  gathering  up  all  Dr.  Lathrop's  recol- 
lections concerning  his  great-grandfather.  I  remem- 
ber, too,  that  Mr.  Dwight  inquired  of  him  in  respect 
to  the  personal  appearance  of  Mr.  Edwards,  —  espe- 
cially whether  he  was  fairly  represented  in  his  por- 
traits ;  and  his  reply  was,  that  he  had  seen  no  portrait 
of  him  that  faithfully  reflected  his  image  as  it  was 
enstamped  on  his  own  memory.  I  do  not  remember 
that  he  attempted  to  tell  wherein  the  portraits  were 
deficient. 

As  I  suppose  that  every  thing  pertaining  to  this 
great  and  good  man  has  its  interest,  I  will  transcribe 
one  or  two  very  brief  communications,  the  originals 
of  which  are  in  my  possession,  that  seem  to  have  an 
important  bearing  upon  his  history,  though  they  shed 
no  new  light  upon  it.  The  first  is  a  note  addressed 
by  his  grandfather,  the  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard,  to 
the  Rev.  John  Williams  of  Deerfield,  the  redeemed 
captive,  inviting  him  to  Mr.  Edwards's  ordination.  It 
is  as  follows  :  — 


Edwards  Memorial.  i8i 

"  NORTHAMI'TON,   Jail.    26,   \']^^-. 

"Rev.  Sir,  —  Our  church  do  desire  your  presence 
and  attendance  at  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Jonathan 
Edwards  this  day  three  weeks. 

"  Your  servant, 

"  Solomon  Stoddard." 

The  other  is  important  from  its  connection  with 
the  controversy  in  Northampton  that  brought  about 
the  disruption  of  his  pastoral  relation.  Of  the  par- 
ticular design  of  it  I  have  no  knowledge  beyond  what 
the  document  itself  imparts  :  — 

"  I,  the  subscriber,  do  hereby  signify  and  declare  to 
such  as  it  may  concern,  that  if  my  people  will  wait 
till  the  book  I  am  preparing  for  the  press,  relating  to 
the  admission  of  members  into  the  church,  is  pub- 
lished, I  will  resign  the  ministry  over  this  church,  if 
the  church  desires  it,  after  they  have  had  opportunity 
pretty  generally  to  read  my  said  book,  and  after  they 
have  first  asked  advice  of  a  council  mutually  chosen. 
The  following  things  also  being  provided  ;  viz.,  that 
none  of  the  brethren  be  admitted  to  vote  on  this  affair 
but  such  as  have  either  read  my  said  book,  or  have 
heard  from  the  pulpit  what  I  have  to  say  in  defence 
of  the  doctrine  that  is  the  subject  of  it ;  and  that  the 
society  will  engage  that  I  shall  be  free  from  all  rates, 
and  also  that  a  regular  council  approve  of  my  thus  re- 
signing my  pastoral  office  in  this  church.  J.  E. 

"Northampton,  April  13,  1749." 

I  cannot  forbear  to  add,  that  your  anticipated  gath- 
ering will  be  most  gratefully  responded  to  by  many 
on  the  other  side  of  the  water  ;  and  I  congratulate 


1 82  Edwards  Memorial. 

you  that  you  will  have  the  presence  of  one  who  comes 
from  the  very  institution  of  which  Edwards  also  was 
president,  and  from  the  very  house  in  which  he  died, 
whose  testimony  in  regard  to  his  transatlantic  fame 
will  be  all  that  you  could  desire.  I  remember  well, 
that,  during  the  two  brief  visits  that  I  have  made  in 
Europe,  I  heard  the  name  of  Edwards  spoken  more 
frequently  and  more  reverently  than  that  of  any  other 
of  my  countrymen  ;  and  no  one  was  more  loud  and 
earnest  in  his  praises  than  the  great  Dr.  Chalmers, 
and  that  notwithstanding  their  views  on  some  minor 
points  were  not  in  perfect  harmony.  It  is  safe  to  say, 
that  no  man  has  lived  since  the  Reformation  who  has 
left  behind  him  a  brighter  or  more  enduring  record 
than  Pres.  Edwards. 

Regretting  that  I  cannot  be  present  to  enjoy  the 
jubilee,  and  rejoicing  with  you  in  the  prospect  of  it, 
I  am,  with  great  regard,  most  sincerely  yours, 

W.   B.   Sprague. 

The  question  of  erecting  a  monument  by  the  de- 
scendants to  the  memory  of  Jonathan  Edwards  was 
then  introduced  ;  and,  alter  a  brief  discussion,  it  was 
moved  that  a  committee  of  six  be  appointed  by  the 
chair  to  take  action  on  the  subject,  according  to  their 
discretion. 

The  following  gentlemen  were  named  :  — 

Hon.  Jonathan  Edwards  of  New  Haven. 

Henry  Edwards,  Esq.,  of  Boston. 

Hon.  Jos.  W.  Edw\\rds  of  Marquette,  Mich. 

Eli  Whitney,  Esq.,  New  Haven, 

Prof.  Theodore  W.  Dwight,  LL.D.,  New  York. 

W.  DwiGiiT  Bell,  Esq.,  Philadelphia. 


Edwards  Memorial.  183 

Rev.  JoNA.  E.  WooDBRiDGE  of  Aubumdalc  was 
added  to  the  number  by  an  amendment  proposed  by 
Prcs.  Woolsey. 

Hon.  Jonathan  Edwards  of  New  Haven  submit- 
ted the  following  resolutions  to  the  meeting  for  their 
adoption :  — 

RESOLUTIONS. 

Resolved,  That  the  cordial  welcome  which  has 
been  extended  to  us  by  the  people  of  Stockbridge, 
and  the  unbounded  liberality  which  they  have  dis- 
played in  preparing  for  our  reception,  have  contributed 
greatly  to  the  pleasure  of  our  visit,  and  merit  our 
warmest  thanks. 

Resolved,  That  the  name  of  this  beautiful  town, 
and  the  memory  of  its  warm-hearted  inhabitants,  will 
hereafter  be  associated  in  our  minds  with  the  recol- 
lections of  this  family  gathering ;  and  that  Stockbridge 
will,  from  this  time  forth,  be  considered  the  tradi- 
tional home  of  the  Edwards  family. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Edwards  family 
be  presented  to  the  choir  of  this  church,  and  to  the 
curator  of  this  house,  for  the  services  they  have  kindly 
rendered  us  during  our  meeting. 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  to  the  committee  of  enter- 
tainment, and  to  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  have 
assisted  them,  our  sincere  thanks  for  the  hospitality 
and  courtesy  they  have  extended  to  us,  and  for  the 
generous  provisions  they  have  made  for  our  comfort. 

It  was  proposed  that  the  vote  with  regard  to  the 
resolutions  be  taken  by  rising.  The  chair  then  put 
the  motion,  and  the  whole  family  rose  en  masse. 


184  Edwards  Memorial. 

The  hour  of  adjournment  having  arrived,  the  morn- 
ing's session  was  closed  with  prayer  by  Mr.  Jonathan 
Edwards  of  Forest  City,  Neb. 

This  venerable  man  came  from  that  distant  region 
to  attend  the  "  family  gathering."  The  last  occasion 
of  his  visiting  Stockbridge  was  to  attend  the  funeral 
of  his  grandfather,  Timothy  Edwards,  in  18 13,  —  fifty- 
seven  years  previous. 

The  meeting  was  then  adjourned  to  the  tent  for 
dinner  ;  after  which  an  hour  or  so  was  to  be  spent  in 
listening  to  addresses  from  several  gentlemen  of 
Stockbridge  and  Berkshire  County. 

AT    THE   TABLES, 

Blessing  was  invoked  by  Pres.  Wools^ey. 

Rev.  Dr.  Hooker  exhibited  the  silver  porringer 
from  which  Pres.  Edwards  was  accustomed  to  eat  his 
simple  meal,  of  bread  and  milk.  This  was  passed 
around  from  one  to  another  at  the  tables,  that  such 
as  chose  might  take  from  it  a  sip  of  coffee.  Other 
relics  were  also  shown.  And  here  we  take  occasion 
to  mention,  that  the  wedding-dress  in  whicn,  more 
than  a  century  and  a  half  before,  the  beautiful  Sarah 
Pierrepont  became  the  bride  of  the  young  minister, 
was  on  exhibition  ;  also  Pres.  Edwards's  valedictory 
address  in 'his  own  hand,  in  Latin,  which  he  uttered 
when  he  took  his  bachelor's  degree,  September,  1720, 
being  then  not  quite  seventeen  years  of  age.  Two 
large  books,  "  Poole's  Annotations,"  printed  more  than 
two  hundred  years  ago,  which  lay  constantly  upon 
his  study-table,  together  with  letters,  manuscripts, 
and  a  portrait  of  the  only  surviving  grandchild  of  the 
president,  were  on  exhibition  at  the  church. 


EdiuaTcis  Memorial.  185 

At  the  dinner,  David  Dudley  Field,  Esq.,  invited 
the  entire  company  to  an  afternoon  reception  at  his 
summer  mansion,  which  crowns  the  hill,  and  looks 
down  upon  a  magnificent  expanse  of  vale  and  field 
and  hills.  We  may  here  say  that  an  hour  or  two  of 
great  enjoyment  was  passed  at  this  magnificent  place. 

When  the  dinner  had  been  sufficiently  discussed, 
the  chairman  proposed  the  following  sentiment :  — 

"  Stockbridge,  —  her  record  is  on  high  ;  "  which 
called  up  Rev.  H.  M.  Field,  D.D. 

ADDRESS    BY  REV.    DR.    FIELD.    • 

Mr.  President,  —  This  day  is  sacred  to  our  guests  ; 
and  we  who  are  not  of  your  blood  and  lineage  hardly 
feel  at  liberty  to  intrude  upon  this  domestic  scene. 
We  know  how  it  is  here  in  New  England  when  a 
large  family  comes  together  to  keep  its  thanksgiving 
festival;  when  father  and  mother,  and  th.e  aged  grand- 
parents, and  children  of  several  generations,  are  gath- 
ered under  one  roof,  and  the  huge  fire  is  blazing  on 
the  broad  hearthstone,  and  the  curtains  are  let  down 
to  shut  out  the  world.      It  is  the  prayer  of  all, 

"  To-night  let  no  cold  htrani.cr  come.'" 

So  we  stand  without,  content  only  to  look  on  silent 
but  delighted  spectators.  It  is  ours  only  to  speak 
the  words  of  welcome  and  farewell.  Your  welcome  is 
in  all  our  hearts.  When  Mr.  Woodbridge  wrote  to 
me  to  ask  if  the  descendants  of  Pres.  Edwards  niight 
hold  a  family  gathering  in  old  Stockbridge,  I  an- 
swered at  once,  speaking,  as  I  felt  it  safe  to  do,  for 
the  people   of  this   hospitable    town,  that  we   should 


1 86  Edwards  Memorial. 

count  it  an  honor  to  receive  them  as  our  guests.  It 
is  indeed  a  privilege  thus  to  receive  the  gifted  and 
the  good  ;  to  have  them  sit  at  our  firesides  and  our 
tables.  The  saying  of  our  Saviour,  "  It  is  more  bless- 
ed to  give  than  to  receive,"  is  nowhere  more  true 
than  in  the  giving  of  hospitality.  When  a  good  man 
enters  under  our  roof,  he  brings  a  blessing  with  him  ; 
and,  though  he  tarry  but  for  a  night,  the  savor  of  his 
presence  abides  when  he  is  gone.  The  serenity  of 
his  countenance  diffuses  a  sweetness  in  the  room, 
and  the  memory  of  his  prayers  lingers  in  the  very  air 
like  a  benediction.  You,  sir,  and  your  kindred,  have 
rendered  us  a  double  favor  by  your  coming,  —  in  the 
enjoyment  of  your  own  society,  and  in  the  memo- 
ries you  revive  of  your  illustrious  ancestor.  We 
knew  his  history  before  ;  *-we  pass  every  day  the  house 
where  he  lived  :  but  you  have  brought  back  afresh  all 
the  details  of  his  life  among  us  ;  you  have  opened 
your  stores  of  tradition  and  family  letters,  and  thence 
unfolded  so  many  reminiscences  of  the  great  man, 
that  he  seems  to  wake  from  the  sleep  of  a  hundred 
years,  and  to  walk  under  these  elms.  By  this  gather- 
ing you  have  consecrated  Stockbridge  as  —  more 
than  any  other  place  ;  more  than  Windsor,  where  he 
was  born  ;,  or  Northampton,  where  he  preached  twenty 
years  ;  or  Princeton,  where  he  died  —  the  home  of  the 
Edwards  family,  and  have  given  us  a  right  hence- 
forth to  associate  our  quiet  village  with  that  immortal 
name. 

But  as,  in  the  sentiment  you  have  read,  you  refer 
not  to  him  alone,  but  to  others  of  the  sainted  dead,  I 
may  speak  briefly  of  those  who  went  before  and  who 
came  after  him.     A  hundred  and  forty  years  ago,  this 


Edwards  Memorial.  187 

was  but  a  hamlet  on  the  borders  of  the  wilderness,  — 
the  seat  of  a  small  tribe  of  Indians.  A  few  white 
men  from  the  Connecticut  Valley,  venturing  over  the 
mountains,  came  down  into  this  peaceful  spot.  When 
once  they  had  formed  a  little  settlement,  their  first 
want  was  a  minister  ;  and  hither  came,  in  answer  to 
their  call,  John  Sergeant,  a  tutor  in  Yale  College  ;  a 
man  whose  .looks  were  those  of  the  scholar,  but  who, 
like  Eliot  and  Brainerd,  willingly  banished  himself  to 
the  wilderness  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  children 
of  the  forest.  His  culture  and  refinem_ent  were  not 
lost  even  upon  them.  They  soon  recognized  in  him 
a  man  of  God,  and  sat  at  his  feet  ;  and  when,  after  a 
ministry  of  fourteen  years,  he  was  borne  to  his  rest  in 
yonder  graveyaixl,  it  was  amid  the  weeping  of  the 
simple  natives,  who  desired,  when  they  should  be 
buried,  to  be  laid  near  him,  that  they  might  rise  at 
his  side  at  the  resurrection.  I  have  just  been  to  his 
grave,  and  from  the  moss-grown  stone  which  covers 
his  dust  have  copied  these  words  :  — 

"Here  lyes  the  Body  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Sergeant, 
who  dyed  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  July,  1749,  in  the  for- 
tieth year  of  his  age. 

"  Where  is  that  pleasing  form,  I  ask  ?     Thou  canst  not  show  : 
He's  not  within,  false  stone  !  there's  nought  but  dust  helow. 
And  Where's  that  pious  soul,  that  thinking,  conscious  mind.' 
Wilt  thou  pretend,  vain  cypher,  that's  with  thee  enshrined  t 
Alas  !  my  friend's  not  here  with  thee,  that  I  can  find  ; 
Here's  not  a  Sergeant's  body,  nor  a  Sergeant's  mind  : 
I'll  seek  him  hence,  for  all's  alike  deceptive  here  ; 
I'll  go  to  heaven,  and  I  shall  find  my  Sergeant  there." 

After  Sergeant  came  the  great  man  whom  you  are 
met  to  honor  ;  and  I  repeat,  it  is  a  fiigh  satisfaction  to 


1 88  Edwards  Memorial. 

LIS,  as  well  as  to  you,  to  have  his  name  associated  with 
a  place  so  dear  to  us.  Here  he  lived.  The  scenes 
which  you  look  upon  to-day  were  all  familiar  to  his 
eye.  He  was  an  intense  lover  of  Nature  :  and  you  can 
imagine  how  he  revelled  in  the  beauty  of  this  spot  ; 
how  he  often  climbed  yonder  hill  to  watch  the  slowly- 
descending  sun,  and  wandered  alone  in  the  paths 
of  the  forest  when  the  autumn  leaves  rustled  beneath 
his  tread.  Here  he  spent  six  years,  —  the  happiest 
of  his  life.  Coming  from  the  "  strife  of  tongues  "  at 
Northampton,  this  was  to  him  a  valley  of  peace.  The 
mountains  were  a  barrier  that  shut  out  persecution  ; 
and  we  can  imagine  him  often  saying  to  himself,  "  As 
the  mountains  are  round  about  Jerusalem,  so  the  Lord 
is  round  about  them  that  fear  him."  Thus  begirt 
and  defended,  he  was  set  apart  for  a  peculiar  work. 
It  seemed  as  if  He  who  sent  the  apostle  John  to  the 
Isle  of  Patmos  had  sent  Edwards  into  the  wilderness, 
that  he  might  do  a  great  work  for  his  Church. 

After  Edwards  came  another  who  holds  an  hon- 
ored place  among  the  theologians  of  New  England,  — 
Dr.  Stephen  West.  He  came  here  a  young  man, 
and  remained  pastor  of  this  church  sixty  years.  The 
older  people  of  this  town  remember  him  well  as  he 
appeared  in  the  pulpit  on  Sunday,  or  as  he  went  about 
the  parish  with  his  three-cornered  hat  and  his  gold- 
headed  cane.  Miss  Sedgwick  has  often  described 
him  to  me.  He  was  a  warm  friend  of  her  father.  Judge 
Sedgwick  ;  and  never  did  a  Monday  morning  pass 
that  he  did  not  come  down  the  hill  to  pay  him  a 
visit.  She  described  his  appearance  and  his  man- 
ners. He  was  small  in  person,  but  very  neat  in  his 
attire,  wearing  the  old-fashioned  short-clothes  fastened 


Edwards  Aleinorial.  189 

with  silver  knee-buckles,  and  had  the  manners  of  a 
gentleman  of  the  old  school.  She  told  how  he  en- 
tered the  room,  and  how  he  bowed  to  the  ladies,  and 
how  he  bowed  to  the  judge,  and  how  he  stroked  his 
thin,  silvery  hair,  and  then  sat  down  and  began  to 
converse. 

But  from  these  precise  manners,  which  belonged  to 
the  time,  you  must  not  imagine  that  he  was  without 
intellectual  force  :  on  the  contrary,  he  was  all  compact 
with  mind  and  will.  It  is  one  of  the  traditions  of 
Stockbridge,  how,  on  the  morning  that  news  came 
of  the  battle  of  Lexington,  the  old  man  came  down 
the  hill  with  fire  in  his  eye.  It  was  the  sabbath  day  ; 
but  that  did  not  prevent  the  drum  to  beat.  From  all 
parts  of  the  town,  the  minute-men  gathered  "  in  hot 
haste  ;  "  and,  before  the  sun  went  down,  a  company  had 
started  for  Bunker  Hill. 

But  the  chief  force  of  Dr.  West  was  as  a  theologian. 
Possessed  of  an  acute  mind,  he  bent  all  his  thoughts 
to  the  solution  of  those  great  problems  which  had  so 
long  exercised  the  first  intellects  of  New  England, — 
of  his  predecessor  Edwards,  and  of  Samuel  Hopkins, 
who  lived  in  the  neighboring  town  of  Great  Barring- 
ton.  That  West  was  no  "light  weight"  in  theology, 
is  sufficiently  shown  by  the  fact  that  Dr.  Nathaniel 
Emmons,  himself  the  most  acute  reasoner  of  his 
day,  regarded  him  as  a  formidable  opponent.  What 
he  studied  himself  he  taught  to  others.  There  were 
then  no  theological  seminaries  ;  but  on  yonder  hill  he 
had  a  school  of  the  prophets,  where  he  taught  many 
who  have  since  been  distinguished  in  the  puli)it,  and 
through  whom  his  voice  still  echoes  in  the  churches 
of  New  Ens-land. 


I  go       ,  Edwards  Memorial. 

Of  him  who  followed  Stephen  West  in  this  pulpit  I 
cannot  speak,  as  I  regard  him  with  that  mingled  respect 
and  tenderness,  that  love  and  veneration,  which  one 
can  feel  only  towards  a  father.  It  is  but  three  years 
since  that  that  "  good  gray  head  "  was  laid  beneath 
the  dust.  Yonder  a  granite  obelisk  marks  the  spot 
where  he  sleeps,  on  which  is  written,  with  what  truth 
you  know,  — 

"  A  Puritan  of  the  Puritans. 

Stern  in  principle,  but  gentle  in  heart. 

His  only  aim  was 

To  be  good  and  to  do  good." 

And  such,  I  trust,  is  the  highest  ambition  of  his  de- 
scendants. 

Such  is  the  past  of  Stockbridge,  which  answers  to 
your  sentiment,  "  Its  record  is  on  high."  Of  the 
present  it  does  not  become  us  to  speak.  Sometimes, 
when  we  have  boasted  of  these  great  names,  in  terms, 
perhaps,  going  a  little  beyond  the  bounds  of  modesty, 
our  kind  friends  of  neighboring  towns  have  checked 
our  vanity  by  saying  wittily,  and  perhaps  justly,  that 
"  the  best  part  of  Stockbridge  was  under  ground." 
Be  it  so.  We  are  not  careful  to  answer  in  this  mat- 
ter ;  though  I  trust  the  good  is  not  all  there.  Yester- 
day, when  we  were  listening  to  Pres.  Hopkins  as  he 
stood  upon  the  platform,  there  were  many  who 
marked  the  striking  resemblance  between  that  fine 
intellectual  countenance  and  the  portrait  which 
hung  upon  the  wall.  Looking  on  these  two  faces, 
we  felt  that  we  might  say  with  truth,  that  Stock- 
bridge  had  a  living  son, -^- an  original  thinker  too, — 
who  was,  at  least,  a  worthy  disciple  of  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards. 


Edivards  Memorial.  v  191 

But  what  need  to  make  comparisons  ?  If  our 
fathers  were  greater  and  nobler  than  their  sons,  we  at 
least  may  sit  in  the  shadow  of  their  mighty  memories 
as  we  sit  in  the  shadow  of  these  mountains.  We  who 
are  on  the  stage  have  no  jealousies  of  those  who  have 
gone  before  us.  The  praises  bestowed  on  the  dead 
excite  no  envy  in  the  breasts  of  the  living.  We  are 
glad  to  have  their  virtues  celebrated.  Their  goodness 
is  to  us  a  precious  inheritance  ;  their  examples,  a  per- 
petual inspiration.  It  is  something  to  live  in  the 
place  made  sacred  by  their  presence,  to  breathe  the 
hallowed  air.     It  is  thus  that 

"  The  memory  of  the  just 
Smells  sweet,  and  blossoms  in  the  dust." 

The  prayers  which  have  gone  up  like  clouds  of 
incense  from  this  mountain -guarded  valley,  —  the 
prayers  of  our  fathers,  — we  cannot  but  feel,  will  bring 
i^lessings  on  their  children.  So  may  it  prove  !  and  for 
the  rest,  our  highest  wish  for  dear  old  Stockbridge 
is  that  the  present  and  the  future  may  be  not  unwor- 
thy of  the  former  generations. 

The  chair  announced  the  following  sentiment,  — 
"  The  friends  and  companions  of  Edwards  in  Berk- 
shire," —  which  was  responded  to  by  Rev.  Mr.  Eggles- 
ton,  late  pastor  of  the  church  in  Stockbridge. 

ADDRESS   BY   MR.    EGGLESTON. 

Mr.  President, —  I  have  been  puzzled  not  a  little 
this  morning,  since  your  kind  invitation  was  given 
me,  to  decide  on  what  principle  or  for  what  reason  I 
have  been   selected  as  one  of  the  speakers  on   the 


192  Edwai^ds  Memorial. 

present  occasion.  I  am  neither  an  Edwards,  nor  have 
married  an  Edwards  ;  and  cannot  claim,  therefore,  as 
Dr.  Todd  did  yesterday  for  himself,  a  relationship  to 
the  family  by  having  the  Edwards  blood  running,  if 
not  in  me,  alongside  of  me.  I  have,  indeed,  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  erection  of  that  memorial  tablet 
in  thj  church,  as  it  has  been  my  privilege  and  honor 
to  stand  for  nine  years  in  that  pulpit  as  the  successor 
of  your  honored  ancestor  :  and  possibly  Darwin,  on- 
his  principle  of  natural  selection,  might  suggest,  that 
as  the  elephant  has  got  his  trunk  and  become  an 
elephant  in  the  endeavor  to  stretch  his  nose  to  the 
ground,  and  the  giraffe  has  gained  his  elongated  neck 
and  become  a  giraffe  by  continued  and  persevering 
effort  to  reach  the  branches  of  the  trees  above  him  ; 
so  my  following  after  Edwards,  and  the  effort  to 
reach  up  to  him  and  comprehend  him,  may  have 
given  me,  at  length,  a  sort  of  family  relationship  to 
him, — sufficient,  at  least,  for  the  occasion. 

Or  is  it  that  comprehensive  spirit  of  which  Prof. 
Park  spoke  as  characterizing  Pres.  Edwards,  which, 
ruling  also  in  his  descendants,  has  moved  them  to 
welcome  me  as  one  of  them  } 

And  yet  I  do  remember  one  slender  tie  of  connec- 
tion with  your  honored  family.  It  was  my  lot  in 
boyhood  to  live  in  the  near  neighborhood  of  a  grand- 
son of  Pres.  Edwards,  in  the  old  ancestral  city  of  your 
tribe,  Hartford,  and  to  have  some  of  his  children  as 
my  playmates. 

Well,  Mr.  President,  if  I  am  not  strictly  an  Edwards, 
and  so  cannot  fitly  speak  of  him  whose  memory  you 
rightly  come  here  to  honor,  it  has  seemed  to  me  that 
I   might,  perhaps,  place  a  not  inappropriate  fringe,  or 


Edwards  Memorial.  193 

border,  around  the  great  central  theme  of  interest,  by 
sketching  the  portraits  of  some  of  Edwards's  friends 
and  companions  here.  I  have  not  time,  however,  to 
do  tliis  ;  for  the  cars  are  even  now  near  which  are  to 
bear  me  away  from  this  scene :  yet,  if  ever  one  could 
consent  to  be  left  by  the  train,  it  would  be  when  he 
would  be  left  in  such  a  company  as  this.  But,  were 
there  time,  I  should  like  to  speak  of  the  two  men 
especially  who  were  the  companions  of  Edwards  when 
he  was  toiling  here,  seemingly  hidden  and  alone  in 
the  wilderness.  One  of  them  was  Samuel  Hopkins, 
afterwards  known  as  the  Newport  divine.  Himself  a 
pupil  of  Edwards  at  Northampton,  he  had  been  led 
to  gather  a  little  church  among  the  few  whites  at 
Great  Harrington,  a  few  miles  below  us.  On  the 
death  of  Sergeant,  first  missionary  to  the  Stockbridge 
Indians,  which  took  place  five  or  six  years  after  Hop- 
kins came  to  this  region,  the  latter  was  invited  by  the 
Commissioners  for  Indian  Affairs  to  become  his  suc- 
cessor. He  declined  the  invitation,  partly  from  a 
modest  distrust  of  his  own  abilities,  and  partly  in  the 
hope  that  he  might  draw  his  beloved  and  revered 
instructor  to  his  neighborhood.  He  accordingly  rec- 
ommended Edwards  to  the  commissioners,  and  proba- 
bly, also,  to  the  young  church  at  Stockbridge  ;  for  the 
latter  invited  him  to  become  their  pastor  at  the  same 
time  that  he  was  solicited  by  the  commissioners  to 
become  their  missionary  to  the  Indians.  The  double 
invitation  was  accepted  ;  and  henceforth,  until  Edwards 
left  this  place  for  Princeton,  he  and  Hopkins  were  as 
brothers.  Both  men  of  the  most  entire  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  the  Redeemer,  and  given  to  the  pro- 
foundest  thought  upon   religious   themes,   they  were 

13 


194  Edivards  Memorial. 

accustomed  to  confer  together  constantly  about  their 
plans  and  work.  It  is  related,  that  on  one  occasion, 
on  account  of  difficulty  in  submitting  what  he  had 
written  to  Hopkins's  criticism,  Edwards  ventured  to 
publish  something  which  had  not  passed  under  the 
eye  of  the  former.  After  it  was  published,  Hopkins 
pointed  out  what  he  deemed  a  mistake.  Edwards 
at  once  acknowledged  it  to  be  such,  and  promised  his 
friend,  that,  so  long  as  the  latter  should  live,  he  would 
never  publish  any  thing  without  previously  submitting 
it  to  his  judgment. 

Farther  down  this  range  of  hills  and  valleys,  fifty 
miles,  more  or  less,  in  the  little  village  of  Bethlehem, 
Conn.,  was  Bellamy,  author  of  "True  Religion  Delin- 
eated." He  had  also  been  a  pupil  of  Edwards  at 
Northampton,  but  was  now  accepted  as  a  friend  and 
counsellor.  It  would  be  most  interesting  if  we  could 
reproduce  the  scenes  in  which  this  trio  of  worthies 
were  engaged  together;  if  we  could  see  them  a^  they 
made  their  way  from  time  to  time  through  the  wil- 
derness to  visit  one  another,  to  borrow,  books,  to  revise 
one  another's  manuscripts,  and  hold  their  consulta- 
tions concerning  the  highest  themes  which  can  en- 
gage the  human  mind.  Their  friendship,  so  sweet 
and  ardent,  and  their  consecrated  devotion  to  what 
was  best  and  holiest,  recalls  the  later  friendship 
of  Drs.  Beecher  and  Taylor.  And  so  we  read  in  the 
diary  of  Hopkins  such  passages  as  these:  "This 
day  being  attended  as  a  public  fast,  Mr.  Bellamy 
preached  for  me  all  day.  I  believe  there  is  not  a 
better  preacher  in  America,  on  all  accounts."  And 
again  :  "  Mr.  Bellamy  came  to  my  house  last  Tuesday, 
with  whom   I  went  to    Stockbridge,  and   staid   there 


^  Edwards  Alemorial.  195 

two  nights  and  one  day  to  hear  Mr.  Edwards  read  a 
'  Treatise  upon  the  Last  End  of  God  in  the  Creation 
of  the  World;  " 

These  were  Edwards's  friends,  and  such  was  his 
society  wliile  he  dwelt  here.  He  was  alone,  yet  not 
alone.  And  what  a  work  was  done  by  these  com- 
panions and  fellow-helpers  in  the  gospel !  What  influ- 
ences went  out  from  them  !  They  seemed  to  be  shut 
off  from  the  world.  Their  most  important  work  was 
hidden  from  public  observation.  But  they  were  great 
associated  moral  forces,  which,  however  unnoticed  at 
the  time,  were  really  moving  the  world.  If  there  were 
time,  it  would  be  pleasant  to  trace  the  influences 
reaching  out  from  these  men,  and  working  onward 
still  through  others.  I  might  speak,  for  instance,  of 
West,  who  has  already  been  alluded  to,  the  friend  and 
neighbor  of  Hopkins,  as  he  was  also  the  follower 
of  Edwards  in  spirit  as  well  as  in  yonder  pulpit.  I 
might  speak  of  the  eminent  men  whom  he  trained  for 
the  ministry  from  time  to  time  in  his  early  theological 
seminary  on  that  lovely  hill-side  now  within  our 
sight.  Among  these  were  Drs.  Hyde  and  Catlin  of 
our  own  county  ;  Kirkland,  afterwards  president  of 
Harvard ;  and  Dr.  Samuel  Spring,  to  the  latter 
of  whom  we  are  chiefly  indebted  for  the  origin  of  An- 
dover  Seminary,  which  most  appropriately  sends  us 
to-day,  therefore,  one  who  is  at  the  same  time  a  lineal 
descendant  of  Edwards,  and  the  chosen  exponent  in 
her  halls  of  the  Edwardean  theology  as  inherited  from 
Edwards,  Hopkins,  and  West. 

But  I  must  forbear,  and  leave  you. 

The    ne.\t    sentiment    from    the    chair    was,  "  The 


196  Edivards  Memorial. 

ministry  of  Berkshire  County  in  the  present  and  in 
the  past,  as  illustrated  by  Rev.  Dr.  Hyde  of  Lee." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Gale,  as  his  successor,  made  the 
following  response :  — 

REMARKS 

BY   DR.    GALE. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  —  Hearing  of  your  family 
re-union,  I  have  hastened  home  from  a  long  journey 
to  be  with  you  to-day.  If  any  ask  by  what  law  I 
presume  to  speak,  I  answer,  By  the  law  which  Ed- 
wards taught,  —  of  "  love  to  being  in  general."  Surely 
such  love  cannot  fail  to  notice  the  company  before 
me.  Besides,  there  is  an  intimate  connection  between 
these  parishes  adjacent  on  the  Housatonic  River. 
Stockbridge  people  are  my  next-door  neighbors.  For  • 
seventeen  years  I  have  known  them,  and  sympathized 
with  them  as  with  no  other  people  except  my  own 
parish.  The  relation  of  the  two  parishes  is  shown  by 
a  time-honored  custom  of  an  annual  exchange  be- 
between  their  pastors  the  sabbath  after  Thanksgiv- 
ing. This  custom  extends  back  to  the  days  of  Dr. 
West  at  least,  and  is  to  be  continued.  Scarcely  any 
thing  in  the  future  is  more  certain  than  this  exchange, 
whoever  may  be  pastor  in  either  parish. 

Mr.  President,  I  approve  your  meeting,  and  con- 
gratulate you  upon  its  success.  Mr.  Webster  has 
somewhere  said,  "  They  who  care  nothing  for  their 
ancestors  will  care  nothing  for  their  posterity."  Is 
it  not  so  .''  They  who  are  such  creatures  of  the  pres- 
ent, are  so  engrossed  with  things   seen,  that  they  do 


Edwards  Memorial.  197 

not  call  to  mind  the  character  and  works  of  worthy 
ancestors,  will  have  little  regard  for  their  descend- 
ants. But,  with  a  due  regard  for  what  others  have 
done  for  us,  we  shall  feel  a  proper  responsibility  for 
the  influence  we  transmit  to  posterity.  Such  a  me- 
morial-day as  this  cannot  fail  to  be  a  healthy  moral 
power  to  you  and  your  children. 

You  have  spoken,  Mr.  President,  of  the  former  pas- 
tors of  Berkshire,  and  named  Dr.  Hyde  of  Lee,  a 
servant  of  the  Lord  held  in  honor  by  us  all.  He, 
with  Hopkins,  West,  Catlin,  Shepard,  Field,  and 
others,  "  whose  names  are  in  the  book  of  life,"  did 
much  to  perpetuate  and  extend  the  influence  of  Ed- 
wards in  this  beautiful  "  hill-country."  These  fathers 
have  left  their  impress  upon  our  churches  and  par- 
ishes. I  have  traced  the  moral  power  of  my  venera- 
ble predecessor  upon  three  generations  who  now  sit 
together  at  the  communion-table.  These  pioneers  in 
the  ministry  of  Berkshire  laid  foundations  that  have 
remained  to  this  day.  Their  influence  is  still  seen  in 
the  freedom  from,  religious  error  which  distinguishes 
this  county,  and  in  the  order  and  stability  of  these 
churches.  By  their  sound  teaching  and  holy  living 
they  are  still  among  us,  and  will  help  us  to  solve  the 
great  question  of  our  day,  —  how  to  wed  the  Puritan 
spirit  with  the  advancing  science  and  culture  of  the 
age.  Since  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  a  change  has  come 
over  the  community.  We  cannot  ignore  this  change. 
But  there  is  an  inspiration  in  the  past  to  help  us  meet 
It,  so  that  all  good  foundations  shall  remain.  Be  it 
ours  to  keep  the  truth  which  the  fathers  preached, 
and  the  Christian  life  they  lived,  in  these  churches, 
through  all  the  changes  incident  to  society  in  this  age 


198  Edwards  Memorial. 

of  progress.  Be  assured  I  am  with  you  in  cherishing 
the  memory  of  the  Berkshire  fathers  in  the  ministry 
of  Christ.  They  shall  be  held  among  us  in  "  ever- 
lasting remembrance."  So  shall  they  live  with  the 
people  of  these  hills  and  valleys  in  coming  years. 

"  And  is  he  dead  whose  glorious  mind 
Lilts  thine  on  high  .■' 
To  live  in  hearts  we  leave  behind 
Is  not  to  die." 

The  company  then  listened  to  the  reading  of  an 
original  poem  by  Rev.  George  T.  Dole  of  Stock- 
bridge. 

POEM 

BY   REV.    GEORGE    T.     DOLE    Op-    SrOCKBRIDGE. 

Hail,  loveliest  of  September's  halcyon  days, 

Whose  sun  clear  shining  with  auspicious  rays 

Lights  to  this  ancient  fane  a  pilgrim-band 

Convened  from  every  quarter  of  the  land ! 

Hail  ye  by  love  and  veneration  led 

For  one  long  numbered  with  the  silent  dead, 

But  whose  high  fame  still  lives,  and,  sounding  wide, 

May  well  to  all  his  offspring  be  a  pride  ! 

Most  happy  are  we,  gathered  thus,  to  see 

This  multitude  of  his  posterity,  — 

Such  ample  proofs,  both  general  and  specific, 

The  Edwards  tree  still  flourishes  prolific    . 

We  welcome  you  our  archives  to  explore, 

And  listen  to  traditionary  lore 

Of  the  old  days,  when  your  progenitor, 

Divine,  logician,  deep  philosopher. 


Edzuards  Mcmo7'iaL  199 

Pitched  'mid  the  natives'  wigwams  here  his  tent, 
And  seven  years'  earnest  ministration  spent, 
Proclaiming  both  to  white  men  and  to  red 
Him  who  ahke  for  all  the  nations  bled  ; 
Still  studious  searching  the  deep  things  of  God 
In  paths  profound  which  few  so  far  had  trod, 
Brought  up,  if  some  mere  dross,  much  precious  ore, 
To  circulate  and  shine  till  Time's  no  more. 

Wide  open  be  our  every  heart  and  home 

To  all  of  Edwards  lineage  who  come 

A  cordial  hospitality  to  share, 

Bestowed  a,s  freely  as  this  mountain-air. 

For  if  we  neither  bear  that  honored  name, 

Nor  least  infusion  of  his  blood  can  claim, 

Yet  know  we  of  his  mind,  his  saintly  heart. 

And  in  his  glory  feel  we  share  a  part. 

And  long  as  one  descendant  here  shall  dwell 

Of  those  who  knew,  and,  knowing,  loved  him  well ; 

Long  as  repose  beneath  yon  locusts'  shade, 

In  graves  by  Christian  rites  aye  hallowed  made. 

His  much-beloved  Indian  converts'  bones, 

(Alas  !  unmarked  those  graves  by  simplest  stones  ;) 

Nay,  long  as  Housatonic's  silver  sheen 

Inlaces  these  fair  meadows'  velvet  green, 

Or  circling  mountains  lift  their  ramparts  bold 

As  "round  about  Jerusalem"  of  old, — 

So  long  may  your  illustrious  ancestor 

Here  never  lack  a  niche,  an  orator  ; 

His  name  and  fame,  so  well,  so  meekly  won. 

Go  down,  transmitted  bright  from  sire  to  son. 

And  may  we  venture  a  few  words  to  say 
Of  Edwardses  in  person  here  to-day  ? 


200 


Edwards  Memorial. 


Or  is  the  eulogy  the  dead  we  give 
Sole  compliment  we  have  for  sons  that  live  ? 
No  :  we  will  say  you  rank  with  noblest  races  : 
That  fact  is  clearly  written  on  your  faces. 
In  many  a  one  most  patent  'tis  to  see 
High  mental  joined  with  moral  dignity. 
We  even  fancy,  looking  round,  we  trace 
In  the  assembly  here  and  there  a  face 
In  which  the  blended  lineaments  benign 
Of  yonathan  and  his  rare  Sarah  shine. 

But  peradventure  (pardon  us)  of  puff 

Your  ears,  your  hearts,  already  have  enough. 

Remember  then,  your  glory  bright  to  blur, 

In  your  emblazoned  'scutcheon  sticks  one  Burr. 

In  earthly  waters,  purest  and  most  clear. 

Some  turbid  spots  will  now  and  then  appear  ; 

And  every  stream  from  nioJintaiii-\-\^\^\.  that  flows 

Sinks  far  below  the  level  whence  it  rose  : 

So,  tracing  forward  your  proud  pedigree, 

'Tis  a  descent,  indeed,  we  plainly  see  ! 

Tall,  doubtless,  you  may  be  in  Church  and  State, 

But  not  the  peers  of  Jonathan  the  Great. 

Ask  you  the  proofs  of  this  degeneracy  } 

Suffice  it  now  to  mention  only  three. 

First,  with  the  moral  aspect  to  begin, 

Behold  the  striking  contrast  as  to  sin  ! 

To  sin  "  original  "  he  gave  speculation  ; 

To  "  actual,''  you  a  larger  illustration  : 

Of  Adam's  you  perhaps  acknowledge  less  ; 

More  of  your  own,  no  doubt,  you  will  confess. 


Edivards  Memorial. 


20I 


Then,  as  to  depth  and  power. of  intellect, 
.  Some  simple  "  straws  will  show,"  as  we  suspect, 
If  only  rightly  seen  and  apprehended, 
How  very  fast  and  far  you  have  descended  ! 
This  fact  then,  surely,  little  doubt  allows  : 
Those  of  you  who  keep  cattle  knoiv  your  cows  ; 
And,  if  some  neighbor's  boy  perchance  should  come 
And  help  to  fetch  the  kine  at  evening  home, 
You'd  hardly  ask,  unless  in  mirth  to  quiz. 
Twice  the  same  fifteen  minutes  who  he  is  : 
All  which  shows  plainly  to  your  mental  cost 
Your  patriarch's  wonderful  abstraction  lost. 
Lastly,  'tis  probable,  to  say  the  least. 
If  called  by  chance  to  saddle  your  own  beast, 
There's  not  a  man  among  you  all  would  fail 
To  put  the  appended  crupper  toward  the  tail : 
•Not  so  when  he  once  to  that  task  did  stoop  ; 
He  found  perplexed  a  most  mysterious  loop, 
And  vainly  sought  its  systematic  place, 
Or  "  end  of  its  creation,"  there  to  trace  : 
He  saw  'twas  all  unfit  for  girt  or  tether. 
Styled  "  a  piece  of  quite  superfluous  leather," 
i\nd  o'er  the  neck  proceeded  it  to  throw, 
Dangling  from  what  he  took  for  saddle-bow  ! 
"Therefore,"  'tis  clear,  we  called  you,  not  at  rantlom, 
Degenerate  sons,  —  qicod  erat  demonstniiuiujn. 

The  chair,  in  conclusion,  gave,  "  Berkshire  Count}', 
—  distinguished  alike  for  the  magnificence  of  her 
scenery,  the  culture  of  her  sons,  the  loveliness  of  her 
daughters,  and  the  hospitality  of  her  people."  To 
which  David  Dudley  Field,  LL.D.,  responded  as  fol- 
lows :  — 


202  Edzvarcis  Memorial. 

ADDRESS 

OF   DAVID    DUDLEY   FIELD. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  —  Your  chairman  asks 
me  to  respond  to  the  toast  in  honor  of  Berkshire,  its 
scenery,  its  hospitality,  its  men  and  women.  This  is 
a  summons  which  I  cannot  disobey,  however  unwor- 
thily I  may  fulfil  the  duty.  Here  is  Berkshire  ;  and 
the  least  that  any  one  can  say  of  it  is,  that  you  may 
go  farther,  and  fare  worse.  You  may  go  to  the  far- 
thest east  or  to  the  farthest  west  without  finding  any 
thing  fairer;  nay,  I  am  tempted  to  add,  without  finding 
any  thing  so  fair.  We  have  not  indeed  the  grand  scene- 
ry of  the  Alps,  nor  the  broad  features  of  our  Pacific 
dominion  ;  but  \vc  have  scenery  soft,  and  yet  wild,  of 
mountain  and  valley  in  infinite  variety,  and  so  bathed 
in  sunlight  and  shadow  as  to  give  us  from  morning  to 
night  an  ever-shifting  landscape.  You  may  come  with 
the  apple-blossoms,  when  the  trees  are  white  as  if  sprin- 
kled with  perfumed  snow  ;  you  may  come  in  June,  when 
the  dawn  is  musical  with  birds,  and  in  the  long  reced- 
ing twilight  there  falls  upon  the  earth  a  peace  like 
the  peace  of  God  ;  you  may  come  in  the  summer 
noon,  when  the  sun's  heat,  tempered  by  mountain- 
air,  falls  softly  upon  meadow  and  river ;  you  may 
come  in  mid-October,  when  the  woods  are  green  and 
red  and  gold  ;  you  may  come  in  winter,  when  the 
whole  earth  is  dazzling  white,  and  the  branches  of  the 
trees  are  silvered  with  ice,  and  when  a  purple  light 
foreruns  the  sun  at  morning,  and  pursues  him  at 
evening  ;  you  may  come  and  abide  at  any  of  these 
seasons,  and  you  will  say  with  me,  that,  of  all  the 
beautiful   places    you  have   known,   this   is   the   most 


Edwards  Memorial.  203 

perfect  in  beauty.  Along  the  east  lies  the  Hoosac 
chain,  separating  us  from  the  Valley  of  the  Connecti- 
cut ;  on  the  west  the  Taconic  ridge,  dividing  us 
from  New  York  ;  north  and  south  arc  the  two  giants, 
Graylock  and  the  Dome,  the  highest  mountains  of 
Massachusetts,  standing  like  sentinels  at  either  end 
of  the  valley  ;  while  two  rivers,  the  Housatonic  and  the 
Hoosac,  springing  from  the  same  green  hillside,  flow, 
one  of  them  southward  and  the  other  northward,  now 
lingering  and  winding  in  the  meadows  as  if  loath  to 
leave  them,  and  then,  as  if  remembering  that  they 
had  work  to  do,  dashing  on  over  stone  and  pebble 
and  shining  sand  ;  while  the  intervening  hills  stand  as 
Bryant  described  them  when  he  said, 

"  I  stand  upon  my  native  hills  again. 

Broad,  round,  and  green,  that  in  the  summer  sky, 
With  garniture  of  waving  grass  and  grain. 
Orchards  and  beechen  forests,  basking  lie." 

Of  the  hospitality  of  Berkshire,  though  you  have 
asked  me  to  speak,  I  ought,  perhaps,  to  say  no  more 
than  that  we  are  ever  glad  to  see  our  friends  :  we 
bid  them  a  hearty  welcome,  and  we  give  them  the 
best  wc  hav^e.  Here  are  our  homes  ;  they  are  as 
open  as  our  hearts  :  come  and  occupy  the  one  as  you 
fill  the  other. 

Of  the  women  of  Berkshire,  what  can  I  say  worthy 
of  them  .''  From  the  time  when  Sergeant,  the  first 
missionary,  came  here  with  his  accomplished  wife,  and 
Edwards  followed  with  Sarah  Pierrepont,  whose  sweet 
face,  shining  from  her  portrait,  has  smiled  upon  your 
festival,  down  to  the  present  hour,  these  hills  and 
valleys  have  been  graced  by  cultivated,  truc-hcarlctl, 


204  Edwards  Memorial. 

and  self-sacrificing  women.  Our  lips  ever  utter  their 
praises,  our  hearts  ever  bow  down  before  them.  God 
bless  them  every  one  ! 

Of  the  men  of  Berkshire,  I  will  confine  myself  to  the 
past  generations.  The  present  must  answer  by  their 
works.  Two  incidents,  one  connected  with  civil  and 
the  other  with  military  life,  will  illustrate  the  charac- 
ters of  the  men  who  lived  here  before  us.  When  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  was  made  public,  it  was 
read  in  the  churches.  At  the  reading  in  Sheffield,  a 
poor  negro  girl,  a  slave,  was  present.  She  heard  it, 
and  said,  "  It  stands  to  reason  that  I  am  free."  She 
sought  Mr.  Sedgwick,  afterwards  Judge  Sedgwick, 
then  a  young  lawyer  ;  and  he  brought  a  suit  to  estab- 
lish her  freedom.  The  court  adjudged  her  to  be 
free.  Here  was  an  instance,  and  the  first,  where  that 
famous  declaration  was  held  to  mean  what  it  said. 
The  other  incident  relates  to  the  fighting  parson 
of  Pittsfield,  who,  when  Burgoyne  was  coming  down 
upon  New  York  and  Vermont,  marched  with  the 
militia  of  his  congregation,  and,  arriving  at  Benning- 
ton just  in  time  to  join  in  the  battle,  leaped  upon  a 
rock,  saying  to  the  man  behind  him,  "  You  load, 
and  I'll  fire  !  "  Seeing  a  flash  from  a  bush  in  the  ene- 
my's lines  followed  by  the  fall  of  one  of  our  men,  he 
aimed  at  the  bush,  and,  according  to  his  own  expres- 
sion, "  put  out  the  flash." 

Such  was  the  past.  The  future  of  Berkshire  it  is 
not  difficult  to  predict.  These  broad  meadows,  these 
green  hillsides,  will  yet  be  covered  with  the  abodes 
of  wealth  and  luxury  ;  but  there  will  never  be,  in 
all  the  ages,  happier  homes  or  sturdier  freemen  than 
are   now   here,    nor  a  gathering  of  men  and  women 


Edwards  Memorial.  205 

more  enjoyed,  and  longer  to  be  remembered,  than  that 
the  close  of  which  we  now  celebrate. 

The  doxology  was  then  sung,  and  a  benediction 
was  pronounced  by  Prof.  Edwards  A.  Park.  Thus 
were  concluded  the  interesting  exercises  of  the  Ed- 
wards Rc-union. 


20t) 


Edwards  Memorial. 


EDWARDS     FAMILY. 


William  Edwards,  son  of  Mrs.  Ann  Edwards  (whose  first  husband  is  believed  to 
have  been  Rev  Richard  Edwards,  D.D.,  of  London),  was  born 
in  London,  Eng.  She  married  James  Cole  after  tlie  death  of  her 
first  husband,  who,  togetlier  witli  her  son  William,  then  a  young 
man,  came  to  this  country,  and  settled  in  Hartford,  Conn.  He 
married  Agnes  Spencer  about  1645.  Their  only  child  was  Rich- 
ard, born  May,  1.647. 

Richard,  son   of  William   and   Agnes,    married   Elizabeth   Tuttle   of  New 

Haven,  and  afterwards  Mary  Talcott  of  Hartford.  He  died 
April  20,  1718,  in  his  7 1st  year.  Had  eight  children  by  Elizabeth 
Tuttle,  and  six  by  Mary  Talcott. 

Timothy,  son   of  Richard  and  Elizabeth  Tuttle,  married  Esther  Stoddard 

of  Northampton,  Mass.,  Nov.  6,  1694.  Graduated  at  Harvard 
in  1691 ;  and  was  settled  as  pastor  in  East  Windsor,  Conn.,  1694. 
They  had  ten  daughters  and  one  son.  He  died  Jan.  27,  1758,  at 
the  age  of  89  years.     His  wife  died  Jan.  19,  1770,  aged  gS. 

JONATHAN,  son  of  Timothy  and  Esther  Stoddard,  was  born  Oct.  5,  1703. 
Graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1720.  Was  colleague-pastor  with 
his  grandfather,  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard,  at  Northampton. 
Married  Sarah  Pjerrepont  of  New  Haven,  July  28,  1727. 
Died  at  Princeton,  N.  J.,  of  small-pox,  March  22,  175S,  in  his 
55th  year.     His  widow  died  at  Philadelphia,  Oct.  2,  1758,  aged  49. 

Their  children  were,  — 

Sarah,  born  Aug.  25,  1728.      Married   Elihu    Parsons   of  Northampton. 

Died  May  15,  1805,  aged  76. 

Jerusha,  born    April   26,  1730.      Was   betrothed   to   David    Brainerd,    the 

missionary;  and  died  soon  after  him,  —  Feb.  14,  1747. 

Esther,  born   Feb.   13,   1732.      Married   Rev.  Aaron   Burr,  President  of 

New -Jersey  College.  Was  mother  of  Aaron  Burr,  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.     Died  Feb.  7,  1758,  aged  26. 

Makv,  born  April  4,  1734      Married  Timothy  Dwight  of  Northampton  ; 

and  their  son  Timothy  was  President  of  Yale  College.  Died 
Feb.  7,  1807,  aged  72. 

Lucy,  born   Aug.    31,    1736.      Married   Jahleel  Woodbridge   of  Stock- 

bridge.     Died  October,  17S6,  aged  50. 

^I^lOTH^,  born   July   25,    173S.      Married    Rhoda   Ogden   of  New   Jersey. 

Died  at  Stockbridge,  1813,  aged  75. 

Susannah,  born  June  20,   1740      Married  Eleazar  Porter  of  Hadley.     Died 

1802,  aged  61. 

Eunice,  born    May  9,    1743.      Married  Hunt   of  New   Jersey,   and 

Thomas  Po'lock  of  North  Carolina.     Died  in  1822,  aged  79. 

Jonathan,  born  May  26,  1745.     Married  Mary  Porter  of  Hadley,  and  Mercy 

Sabin  of  New  Haven.     Died  Aug.  i,  1801,  aged  56. 

Elizabeth,  born  May  6,  1747.     Died  Jan  i,  1762,  aged  14 

Pierrepont,  born  April  8,   1750.      Married   Frances  Ogden.      Was   Judge  of 

United-States  District  Court  for  Connecticut.  Died  April  14, 
1S26,  aged  76. 


